Munir-Trump lunch ‘huge setback’; PM must call all-party meeting: Cong

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must immediately chair an all-party meeting upon his return from his three-nation tour to brief leaders on what he has told US President Donald Trump in a telephonic conversation and take the nation into confidence.

The opposition party also termed as a “huge setback” Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir’s scheduled lunch with Trump, and said the PM should have conveyed India’s displeasure on it to the US president during their telephonic conversation.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh asserted that if Indira Gandhi would have been the Prime Minister she would definitely have conveyed her displeasure to whoever the US President would have been.

Ramesh’s remarks came after Modi spoke with President Trump and set the record straight that India had paused strikes on Pakistan during the Operation Sindoor following a request from Islamabad and not due to mediation or offer of a trade deal by the US.

On Trump’s scheduled lunch with Munir, Ramesh said: “This is a triple jhatka for Indian diplomacy. Today Field Marshal Munir, whose incendiary, inflammatory, provocative and unacceptable remarks formed the background to the Pahalgam terror attack, is set to have lunch with President Trump. The same military man who is not the head of government is being invited for a special one-on-one lunch with President Trump. This is a huge setback.”

Following Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s statement on the phone call between the two leaders, Ramesh demanded that the PM must immediately chair an all-party meeting on his return.

Countering Congress’ swipe, the BJP said that Modi’s conversation with Trump on the Operation Sindoor has “busted” every lie of the Congress, stating that if the opposition party does not believe in this, then it should be considered a “partner” of Pakistan.

BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said: “The Congress and its troll army simply can’t digest the fact that Prime Minister Modi told President Trump in clear terms — India neither needs nor accepts any third-party mediation.”

“Congress must stop maligning India’s firm and principled foreign policy just to feed its petty narratives,” he said in a post on X.

“Every Congress lie has been busted,” said BJP’s Shehzad Poonawalla, lambasting the main opposition party.

The opposition party has constantly targeted the government over Trump’s claim of mediating between India and Pakistan.