Congress Demands Answers from PM Modi on Trump’s “Five Jets Downed” Claims

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The Indian National Congress on Saturday, July 19, 2025, intensified its demand for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to issue a clear statement regarding President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions about the India-Pakistan conflict in May, specifically his new claim that “five jets were shot down.” The opposition party questioned Prime Minister Modi’s continued silence on a matter of significant national security and public concern.

Donald Trump, speaking at a dinner with Republican lawmakers in Washington on Friday, reiterated his claim, now for the 24th time by some accounts, that his intervention, primarily through threatening trade deals, had averted a larger war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. In a new, sensational addition to his narrative, Trump stated, “Planes were being shot out of the air… Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually.” He did not specify whether these jets belonged to India or Pakistan.

Responding to Trump’s remarks, Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh sharply criticized the Prime Minister’s perceived inaction. “The Trump missile gets fired for the 24th time with the same two messages: 1. The US stopped the war between India and Pakistan, two countries that have nuclear weapons. 2. No trade deal if the war continued,” Ramesh posted on X. He then directly challenged the Prime Minister: “The sensational new revelation by President Trump this time around is that five jets may have been downed. The Prime Minister, who has had years of friendship and huglomacy with President Trump, has to now himself make a clear and categorical statement in Parliament on what President Trump has been claiming over the past 70 days.”

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, also took to X, posting a video of Trump’s comments and directly asking, “Modi ji, what is the truth about the 5 jets? The country has the right to know!”

The Congress’s demand for clarity comes ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament and seeks to pressure the government on transparency regarding the military engagements. While India has consistently maintained that the de-escalation of tensions in May, following the Pahalgam terror attack and “Operation Sindoor,” was a bilateral decision between Indian and Pakistani military channels without third-party mediation, Trump’s persistent claims and now, the specific mention of downed aircraft, have reinvigorated the opposition’s call for official government disclosure.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pushed back against the Congress’s criticism. BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya accused Rahul Gandhi of having a “traitor’s mentality,” arguing that Trump never specified which country’s jets were downed and questioned why the Congress was quick to assume Indian losses.

As the political war of words intensifies, the Congress has indicated it will press for a special discussion in Parliament on the conflict, the extent of any losses, and the purported role of U.S. mediation, demanding that Prime Minister Modi himself address the nation on these critical matters. “Silence is no answer,” Congress leaders asserted, underscoring the gravity of the allegations for national prestige and military accountability.