The Congress on Tuesday came out strongly against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not giving a clarification on the role of the US in brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

The party said Modi “deeply disappointed the nation”.

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Claiming that the Prime Minister in his speech Monday evening “did not clarify so many things for which the country was waiting to know,” senior party leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, said, “The government has lost both, the moral courage and moral authority……. there was shock and surprise across the country over the sudden ceasefire which too was announced by the US President.”

Taking strong objection to the US President’s offer of mediation in solving the Kashmir issue, Mr Gehlot said that the US President’s statements were “disturbing and dangerous.”

Mr Gehlot, who was addressing a press conference, wondered “whether Trump was making those remarks on his own or he had the consent of the government of India.” He lamented that Donald Trump had started equating India with Pakistan.

Asserting that the US has always tried to pressurize India, Mr Gehlot recalled how the US had threatened India during the 1971 War by deploying the Seventh Naval Fleet in the Bay of Bengal. “Despite that the then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi went ahead and broke Pakistan into two parts, besides forcing 93,000 Pakistani soldiers to surrender,” the Congress leader claimed.

Reiterating that the Prime Minister needs to explain and clarify before the nation that when everything was going so well and India’s defense forces had the upper hand, making the Pakistani forces bite the dust, Mr Gehlot questioned: “What happened all of a sudden that ceasefire was announced so spontaneously?”

Observing that a golden opportunity to settle the issue of terrorism was lost, Mr Gehlot said he “strongly disapprove” of Donald Trump speaking just ahead of Prime Minister’s address to the nation disclosing that the US had told both countries that in case they do not agree for ceasefire, trade will be stopped.

Claiming that “our government’s silence had further emboldened Trump and he was making statements one after another to the extent of involving himself in the Kashmir issue, which is very dangerous,” Mr Gehlot said that “no third-party mediation, not even of the United Nations, is acceptable.”

Also observing that a golden opportunity to completely dismantle the terror infrastructure in Pakistan was lost, Mr Gehlot expressed concern that there was no guarantee that Pakistan will not resort to acts of terror like those in Pahalgam and Pulwama again.

He maintained that if the ceasefire had to be reached, it should have been initiated at the level of the Prime Minister or the External Affairs Minister, not by a third party.

He said, there should have been concrete guarantees ensuring that in future, Pakistan and its army will not allow terrorist incidents against India.

Referring to Prime Minister’s remarks that terror and talks and blood and water can’t flow together, Gehlot said, Prime Minister is known for such statements, but what actually matters is whether the big things he said last night will be implemented in future.

Mr Gehlot also reiterated his party’s demand for an all-party meeting and a special session of the Parliament to address various concerns of the citizens.