Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 21: The Congress on Wednesday took a sharp dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after US President Donald Trump once again claimed credit for ending hostilities between India and Pakistan last year, saying the number of times Trump has made the assertion has now touched 70.

The opposition party’s reaction came after Trump’s remarks at a press conference in Washington, where he listed ending what he termed “unendable wars”, including between India and Pakistan, among the achievements of the first year of his second term.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said that until recently the count of such claims stood at 68, but had risen to 70 after Trump repeated the assertion twice on Tuesday — once in his opening remarks and again during the question-and-answer session.

Ramesh said these were the number of times the Prime Minister’s “good friend” had claimed responsibility for what he described as the “sudden and unexpected halt” of Operation Sindoor on May 10, 2025.

At the press conference, Trump said that India and Pakistan were “really going at it” and that the situation could have escalated into a nuclear exchange. He claimed that his intervention saved millions of lives, adding that he had brought an end to “eight unendable wars” in 10 months.

Later, responding to a question on the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump said preventing escalation between India and Pakistan alone may have saved 10 to 20 million lives. He made similar claims regarding other global conflicts as well.

Trump has repeatedly asserted that the United States mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, announcing on social media on May 10 last year that the two countries had agreed to an immediate halt to hostilities following talks facilitated by Washington.

India, however, has consistently maintained that there was no third-party mediation in its engagements with Pakistan.