Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said nobody will believe Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s briefing about how Prime Minister Narendra Modi told US President Trump during a recent phone call that India has never accepted any external mediation on bilateral issues related to Pakistan.
“Modi’s people are saying this, but President Trump should tweet about it and say that he takes back his words. Who will believe what PM Modi says?” Raut said.
Raut made the statement after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that PM Modi briefed Trump during a recent phone call and firmly conveyed to him that India has never accepted, nor will it ever accept any mediation on bilateral issues related to Pakistan.
“Prime Minister Modi made it clear to President Trump that during this entire episode, at no time, at any level, were issues such as the India-US trade deal or mediation by the US between India and Pakistan discussed. The halt to military action was discussed directly between India and Pakistan, through existing channels of the two armies, and was at the request of Pakistan. Prime Minister Modi stressed that India has never accepted mediation, does not accept it, and will never accept it. There is complete political unanimity in India on this issue,” Misri said.
Significantly, it may be noted that US President Trump claimed several times that the US mediated between India and Pakistan during ‘Operation Sindoor’ to agree to a ceasefire, but these claims were denied by the Indian side.
Incidentally, opposition parties, including the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena have repeatedly demanded a clarification from PM Modi about Trump’s claim about whether he had really allowed the US to mediate in India-Pakistan bilateral issues.