With US President Donald Trump repeating his claim of being responsible for ending the military conflict between India and Pakistan last year, the Congress took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, saying the number of times the PM’s “good friend and the recipient of his many forced hugs” has made the declaration has now gone up to 70.
“Cambodia and Thailand fighting for years, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda. Pakistan and India, they were really going at it. Eight planes shot down. They were going to go nuclear in my opinion,” Trump said on Tuesday.
The President went on to claim in a packed White House press briefing that the prime minister of Pakistan, who visited him in Washington last year, said that “President Trump saved 10 million people, and maybe much more than that”.
“They’re both nuclear countries,” Trump added for effect, saying he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.
“If you add up the numbers, just if you look at any one of those wars, you’re talking about millions of people. You multiply it eight times. But when you look at India and Pakistan, that could have been 10,15,20 million people. It could have been more than that. So I saved millions of people. So that to me is the big thing,” he said.
Trump has been making the assertion repeatedly, on various platforms in the US and around the world, since May 10 last year when he announced on social media that India and Pakistan agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire after a long night of talks mediated by Washington.
Meanwhile, in a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh, recounted the number of times Trump had made the claim that he ended the India-Pakistan war, even while the Centre has denied any third-party intervention.
“Before yesterday the count stood at 68. Yesterday itself the count shot up not to 69 but to 70 – once in the opening statement of his White House Press Conference and later in the Q&A.”
“That is the number of times the PM’s ‘good friend’ and the recipient of his many forced hugs has declared that he was responsible for the sudden and unexpected halt of Operation Sindoor on May 10, 2025,” Ramesh said.
Talking about his accomplishments during the first year of his second term in the White House, Trump said he should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the wars, including between Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The White House also released an exhaustive compilation of achievements in the first year of Trump 2.0. titled, ‘365 WINS IN 365 DAYS: President Trump’s Return Marks New Era of Success, Prosperity’.
“One year ago today, President Donald J. Trump returned to office with a resounding mandate to restore prosperity, secure the border, rebuild American strength, and put the American people first. In just 365 days, President Trump has delivered truly transformative results with the most accomplished first year of any presidential term in modern history.
Also Read: Stopped India-Pak conflict; 8 jets had been shot down: Trump
From negative net migration for the first time in 50 years to the largest homicide drop on record, trillions in reshored investments, peace deals ending multiple wars, record energy production, and massive bureaucracy cuts, President Trump has put America First with urgency – and he’s just getting started,” a statement by the White House said.
Under a section titled, ‘Reasserting American Leadership on the World Stage’, the statement noted “Brokered peace between India and Pakistan” as among Trump’s wins since January 20, 2025.
He also lashed out at Norway, home of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that selects the Peace Prize recipient, for not giving him the Nobel, saying Oslo has “tremendous control” over who gets the annual honour.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that Norway doesn’t control the shots, ok. It’s in Norway. Norway controls the shots. They’ll say ‘we have nothing to do with it’. It’s a joke. They’ve lost such prestige,” Trump thundered.
“Well, I lost a lot of respect for Norway, and I believe very strongly that Norway controls the Nobel Prize. But you have to understand, I settled eight wars,” he added, saying leaders of those countries had even sent in “strong recommendations” calling for him to be given the prize.
“I settled eight wars. No president’s probably ever settled one war. I don’t know, think of it. I did eight. The reason I do it is because it’s easy for me to do, and I didn’t do it for a Nobel Prize. I did it because I’m saving a lot of lives,” he said, and added that he is now in the process of settling the Russia-Ukraine war.
He also made a mention of Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, who last week presented her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Trump in the White House.
Describing her as a “good woman”, Trump said he has “such respect” for her and said she didn’t deserve the Nobel Prize.
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