'Country has the right to know': Rahul questions PM Modi over Trump's '5 jets' claim

New Delhi: Citing US President Donald Trump's remarks "five jets were shot down" during the recent India-Pakistan conflict, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tell the country the truth about it while insisting that the country has the right to know.

The party also demanded that Modi give a "clear and categorical" statement in Parliament on the US leader's claims on the India-Pakistan conflict over the last 70 days, as it questioned his silence. The remarks came as Trump at a White House dinner he hosted for Republican Senators on Friday said that "I think five jets were shot down" besides repeating his assertion that his intervention led to the ceasefire.

Rahul posted on 'X' with a video of Trump, "Modi-ji, what is the truth about the five jets? The country has a right to know!" Trump has not clarified whether the jets belonged to India or Pakistan.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said "the Trump missile gets fired" for the 24th time with the same two messages on stopping the confrontation and that trade agreement was used to make sure that India and Pakistan agree to a ceasefire, just two days before the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

"The sensational new revelation by President Trump this time around is that five jets may have been downed. The Prime Minister, who has had years of friendship and ‘huglomacy’ with President Trump going back to 'Howdy Modi' in September 2019 and 'Namaste Trump' in February 2020, has to now himself make a clear and categorical statement in Parliament on what President Trump has been claiming over the past 70 days," he said.

Ramesh said Modi should "break his silence" and “the Congress and the entire Opposition will demand a special discussion, and the Prime Minister must answer. We do not want a substitute batsman. Only the Prime Minister must answer.”.

Congress Lok Sabha Whip Manickam Tagore said, "Trump boasts about preventing a nuclear conflict using 'trade pressure'. Pakistan applauds him. They've even proposed a Nobel Prize. So what really happened? And why is Modi in 'Maun Viraat' mode? If 5 fighter jets were really shot down, as Trump says, the nation deserves to know: Who authorised retaliation? What role did the US play? Did India cave to foreign pressure?"

Silence cannot be the official response, he added.

This is likely to be one of the major issues for the Congress and other Opposition parties in the upcoming session along with the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. Since the announcement of ceasefire on May 10 with Trump posting it first and making other claims, the Opposition has been asking the government to clear the air.