'PM Modi has deeply disappointed the nation'

The grand old party accused the Prime Minister of not clarifying the truth behind Donald Trump's claim of brokering India-Pakistan ceasefire

- STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE

The Congress on Tuesday came out strongly against Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging he had "deeply disappointed the nation" as he did not clarify the truth behind the US President's claim that it was the US that brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

Claiming that the Prime Minister in his speech last 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 pressurise 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.