As Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepared to address the nation on Sunday, the Congress party challenged him to clarify pressing national and international matters. They questioned whether his speech would tackle former U.S. President Donald Trump’s persistent claims about orchestrating an India-Pakistan “ceasefire,” address the serious worries of hundreds of thousands of Indian H-1B visa holders, or merely reiterate information already known about upcoming GST rate adjustments.
The Prime Minister’s Office had announced Modi’s address for 5 p.m. on Sunday, but conspicuously withheld any details regarding its specific topic. This national address was scheduled for the eve of Navratri, coinciding with the implementation of revised Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates, which were expected to make a wide array of products more affordable.
In a pointed critique shared on social media, Congress General Secretary for Communications, Jairam Ramesh, remarked that while the Prime Minister geared up for his address, his “good friend” in Washington D.C. had once again overshadowed him. Ramesh highlighted that this individual had, for the 42nd time, asserted that he single-handedly halted India’s “Operation Sindoor” by leveraging trade relations with the United States.
Ramesh further noted that these specific claims by former President Trump had been publicly reiterated on numerous international platforms, including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Kingdom, in addition to within the United States.
The Congress leader then posed a series of critical questions: Would the Prime Minister address these specific claims, discuss the increasingly strained India-U.S. relationship, and provide reassurance to the millions of Indian H-1B visa holders facing uncertainty? Moreover, would he offer guarantees to the countless farmers and laborers whose livelihoods were threatened by the tariffs imposed by his “good friend”? Or, Ramesh speculated, would the speech simply repeat information about the new GST rates—measures he suggested were born out of desperation and set to take effect the following day?
Earlier, in a move with significant repercussions for skilled Indian professionals residing in the U.S., former President Trump had mandated a drastic increase in the annual H-1B non-immigrant visa fee, raising it to $100,000. However, the Trump administration subsequently clarified that this substantial $100,000 H-1B visa fee would be a one-time charge, applicable solely to new visa petitions and not affecting existing visa holders.
Adding to the international political discourse, Trump had also repeatedly claimed credit for resolving the India-Pakistan conflict earlier this year, attributing the resolution to trade leverage. He further asserted that he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for “ending seven wars.”
Since his May 10 social media announcement, where he declared a “full and immediate ceasefire” between India and Pakistan following U.S.-mediated talks, Trump had consistently reiterated his role in de-escalating tensions between the two nations. India, however, has steadfastly rejected any notion of third-party involvement in resolving its disputes with Pakistan.
During a speech at the American Cornerstone Institute Founder’s Dinner, Trump boasted about the U.S.’s renewed global respect, stating, “On the world stage, we are once again doing things that we are just respected at a level that we have never been respected before. We are forging peace agreements, and we are stopping wars. So we stopped wars between India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia.”
He elaborated, claiming he resolved the India-Pakistan conflict “with trade” because “they want to trade,” and expressed respect for both countries’ leaders. Trump then broadly listed numerous conflicts—including those between India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Rwanda and the Congo—alleging that his administration had ceased all of them, with 60% attributed to trade. He further asserted that in the case of India, he warned, “look, we’re not going to do any trade if you’re going to fight and they have nuclear weapons. They stopped.”
Contextually, India had initiated “Operation Sindoor” on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as a response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, which tragically claimed 26 civilian lives. Following four days of intense cross-border drone and missile exchanges, India and Pakistan arrived at a mutual understanding on May 10 to de-escalate the conflict.
India has consistently affirmed that the agreement to cease hostilities with Pakistan was achieved through direct negotiations between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries’ armed forces, without external mediation.
