New Delhi: Congress on Tuesday described reports of Pakistan acting as an intermediary between the US-Israel and Iran as a “severe setback” and “rebuff” to India, attributing it to shortcomings in the Modi government’s diplomacy.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh cited multiple international media reports identifying Pakistan in this role. “If these reports are true, they represent a severe setback and rebuff to India – and it is all attributable to the self-styled Vishwaguru,” Ramesh said on X.
He contrasted India’s military achievements with diplomatic lapses post-Operation Sindoor. “For over a year, it has been abundantly clear that in spite of our undoubted military successes in Operation Sindoor, the sad reality is that thereafter Pakistan’s diplomatic engagement and narrative management has been markedly superior to that of the Modi government,” Ramesh stated.
Ramesh argued Pakistan, previously in precarious political, social, economic, and global straits, has revived its standing. “President Trump warmly and repeatedly embraced the man whose incendiary and inflammatory rhetoric formed the backdrop to the Pahalgam terror attacks on April 22 2025, and hosted Field Marshall Asim Munir twice in the White House (including for an unprecedented lunch). The Pakistani establishment has developed a cosy relationship with President Trump’s immediate circle,” he claimed.
The Congress leader also faulted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s timing on a recent Israel visit. “Mr. Modi’s ill-advised visit to Israel, that ended just two days before the unprovoked US-Israel aerial assaults on Iran began, will go down in our political history as a singularly disastrous choice – one that has made us retreat from a position where we could and should have mediated,” Ramesh said. He added that the prime minister’s “huglomacy” stands “brutally exposed,” with India paying the price.
The criticism comes amid US President Donald Trump’s Monday remarks on de-escalation efforts in the three-week-old war. “The US was talking with a respected Iranian leader and the Islamic Republic was eager for a deal to end the war,” Trump told reporters at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. He declined to name the leader, clarifying it was not Ayatollah Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, and withheld details to protect them.
