Jaishankar denies Modi-Trump call during Operation Sindoor

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that there were no phone conversations between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump during Operation Sindoor.

“I want to make it absolutely clear - those who are spreading misinformation should listen carefully - there was not a single phone call between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi during that period,” Jaishankar said, rejecting speculation about diplomatic engagements between the two leaders between April 22 and June 16.

He also reaffirmed India’s consistent policy of rejecting third-party mediation in matters concerning Pakistan. Any issue between India and Pakistan would be resolved bilaterally and only through formal communication between the Directors General of Military Operations.

Jaishankar noted that several countries had reached out after Operation Sindoor began, but India made it clear that it would not accept external mediation. “We were responding to an attack, and that response would continue unless Pakistan formally requested a cessation of hostilities through the appropriate military channel,” he added.

Taking aim at the Congress, Jaishankar accused the party of being “uncomfortable with history,” particularly over decisions such as the Indus Water Treaty and Kashmir. Calling the treaty “a unique and perhaps unprecedented agreement” in which a country allows its rivers to flow into a neighboring state, he criticized the approach taken by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Quoting Nehru’s 1960 remarks in Parliament, Jaishankar said, “He stated he was doing this for the benefit of Pakistani Punjab, without a single mention of Indian farmers in Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, or Gujarat.”

The minister concluded by saying that Prime Minister Modi had taken “corrective measures” on key national issues, including the Indus Water Treaty and the abrogation of Article 370, to address what he described as “historical mistakes.”