India’s main opposition party, the Congress, on Saturday launched a fresh attack on the foreign policy record of the BJP-led government, raising clear questions about how Pakistan – a country that India has sought to isolate internationally – became a mediator and host of talks between the US and Iran after reaching a temporary ceasefire in the West Asian war.
The party’s criticism came at a time when US Vice President J.D. Vance arrived in Islamabad to hold negotiations with an Iranian delegation headed by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. When a ceasefire was announced on April 8 with Pakistan taking the lead role, the Congress party called it a “serious setback” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomacy.
Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh intensified this criticism on Saturday, by directly criticizing Prime Minister Modi’s distinctive style of hugging world leaders. “Serious questions arise about the substance and style of Vishwaguru’s self-proclaimed embrace,” Ramesh wrote in a Twitter post. X, plays on the words “hug” and “diplomacy.”
On diplomatic efforts after Pahalgam
The party also questioned the effectiveness of India’s diplomatic efforts to isolate Pakistan in the wake of the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists. “How was Pakistan able to carve out a new role for itself despite its role in the dastardly terrorist attack that took place in Pahalgam in April 2025 and India’s diplomatic engagement to isolate it in the wake of the attacks?” he asked. asked Ramesh, a Rajya Sabha member, in his post.
He cited the record of the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government by contrast: “This failure is particularly devastating because Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government very effectively isolated Pakistan after the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.”
Prime Minister Modi and the BJP often criticize Congress for its alleged inaction after the Mumbai attack. After the Pahalgam attack, the Modi government sent all-party delegations to multiple countries to expose Pakistan as a terrorist base. some The government has selected Congress leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tiwari to be part of these teams, despite the party’s anger at not being asked to nominate its members.
“Even after Namaste Trump,” why has no BRICS statement been issued?
Ramesh also asked, rhetorically, whether the personal relationship between Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump had yielded any strategic returns at all. How did India allow the US to give Pakistan this new role even after the “Namaste Trump”, “Howdy Modi” and “Veer Ek Par Trump Sarkar” campaigns by Mr. Modi and his supporters?”, referring to the events that took place during Trump’s first term.
He also claimed that India agreed to a “very clearly one-sided” trade deal with Washington in which it gave “far more than it got”.
Expanding the scope of the criticism, he also asked why the BRICS+ group, which India currently chairs, is unable to play the role of mediator. The group includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, along with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.
“Why has India, as the current chair of BRICS+, not launched any peace or mediation initiative – especially since Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are members of BRICS+?” he asked. Ramesh asked.
Iran has it too She sought a position from BRICS – and an “independent role” – on the matter, and conveyed this in talks with Indian leaders.
Ramesh also raised the recent issue of India Resetting relations with Beijing, after five years of border clashes. “What has India gained from its calculated surrender to China in the past 18 months – especially in light of China’s pivotal role in Pakistan’s response to Operation Sindoor and its continued support for Pakistan?” Ramesh said. India carried out military strikes in Pakistan under Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam terror attack.
However, Ramesh also expressed his hope that Saturday’s talks would yield results.
“the He said: “The Strait of Hormuz must return again to the situation that prevailed before the start of the American-Israeli attack on Iran.” The strait is a major route through the Persian Gulf and transports about a third of the world’s oil supplies, including a large portion of India’s imports.
Questions were raised about Modi’s visit to Israel and the bombing of an Iranian ship
This statement is the latest in a series of attacks on Congress that have escalated in conjunction with the US-Iranian conflict itself. When the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, Congress noted that this came just two days after Modi’s “ill-advised and ill-timed” visit to Israel.
The opposition party also called on the government to “break its silence” regarding the targeted killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In the end, the government sent the Foreign Minister to sign a letter of condolence for Ali Khamenei at the Iranian embassy in New Delhi.
Criticism intensified on March 5, when a US submarine torpedoed and sank the Iranian frigate Iris Dina in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka – a ship that days earlier had participated in India’s multilateral naval exercise “Milan 2026” in Visakhapatnam.
“This US action has huge implications for India as well and it is shocking that there has been no official response to it yet. Never before has the Indian government looked so timid and fearful,” Ramesh said at the time.
Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, It was just as cruel. “The conflict has arrived in our backyard, with the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. And yet, the Prime Minister said nothing. At a moment like this, we need a steady hand on the wheel. Instead, India has a compromised Prime Minister who has surrendered our strategic independence,” Gandhi wrote on X.
When news of Pakistan’s mediation role first emerged in late March, Rahul Gandhi also stepped up his tone. He described this as “the most damning indictment of the substance and style of Prime Minister Modi’s diplomacy, which was full of rhetoric and marked by cowardice.”
Retreat from the government
The government and the BJP responded to the Congress, particularly at an all-party meeting held on March 25, chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
At the meeting, Jaishankar said that India does not consider itself a “pampering” country, and that there is “nothing new” in Pakistan’s role as a conduit, adding that Washington has been using Islamabad as a conduit to maintain communication with Tehran since 1981.
The government also informed the meeting that Prime Minister Modi told US President Trump that the war in West Asia must end soon, as it is “harming all sides.”
