Trump says 5 jets shot down during India-Pak conflict; Congress seeks Modi's statement

After US President Donald Trump's remark that "five jets were shot down" during the conflict between India and Pakistan, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify and asserted that the country has the right to know the truth.

Questioning the prime minister's "silence", the Congress also demanded that PM 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.

The opposition party's assertion came after Trump said "five jets were shot down" during the conflict between India and Pakistan in May, while repeating his assertion that the fighting ended following his intervention.

In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, "Modiji, what is the truth about the five jets? The country has a right to know!"

Speaking at the White House during a dinner he hosted for Republican senators on Friday (18 July), Trump said: "You had India, Pakistan, that was going in fact, planes were being shot out of the air... four or five. But I think five jets were shot down, actually, that was getting worse and worse, wasn't it?

"That was looking like it was going to go, these are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other," he said.

मोदी जी, 5 जहाज़ों का सच क्या है?

देश को जानने का हक है! pic.twitter.com/mQeaGCz4wp

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 19, 2025

Congress general secretary in-charge (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said just two days before the Monsoon Session of Parliament begins, "the Trump missile gets fired" for the 24th time with the same two messages.

He pointed out that Trump has again stated that the US stopped the war between India and Pakistan, two countries that have nuclear weapons. Trump said that if India and Pakistan want a trade agreement with the US, they have to agree to an immediate ceasefire, Ramesh pointed out.

"The sensational new revelation by President Trump this time around is that five jets may have been downed," Ramesh said.

"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," the Congress leader said.

The Congress' whip in the Lok Sabha, Manicakam Tagore, also attacked the government over Trump's remarks.

"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 vrat mode?" he said on X.

"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?" the Congress leader said.

Silence cannot be the official response, he said.