India did not want to jeopardize its relationship with the U.S. over details about the level of US President Donald Trump’s involvement in brokering the May 10 cease fire between India and Pakistan, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has said. Mr Tharoor also pushed back against repeated claims by Mr Trump that he had resolved the latest round of fighting and used trade leverage in the process.
Mr Tharoor, who a Congress MP in the Lok Sabha, is leading a multi-party delegation to the Americas in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attacks and India’s response via ‘Operation Sindoor’. He was speaking at the National Press Club in Washington DC along with Milind Deora (Rajya Sabha, Shiv Sena), Tejasvi Surya (Lok Sabha, BJP) and former Ambassador to the U.S., Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who is a member of the BJP.
Mr Tharoor was asked if India had been firm enough in its response to Mr Trump’s repeated insistence that he had brokered a deal to end the fighting. He was also asked about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent jibe that Mr Trump had asked Mr Modi to “surrender”.
Mr Tharoor chuckled and Mr Deora, who quit the Congress over differences with its leadership after a decades-long association with the party, could be seen smiling at this point.
Mr Tharoor was careful to underscore the “enormous respect” for the American presidency and the American President and said disagreeing with the claims was not a negative comment against the goodwill of others.
“As long as they [ Pakistan] use the language of terrorism, we will use the language of force…and that doesn’t require a third party,” he said.
“ If, on the other hand, they were to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism, we can talk to them ….again, without needing an intermediary,” he added.
India did not need persuading to stop the conflict, Mr Tharoor said, adding that India was willing to stop fighting the moment Pakistan stopped, a position conveyed to the U.S.
If the U.S. had in turn spoken to Pakistan and told them to stop fighting, suggesting that India would also then stop, that was a matter for the U.S. and Pakistan to comment on.
India had a “ valuable strategic partnership”with Washington that “we wouldn’t want to jeopardize over a matter of detail”, Mr Tharoor said.
“So small matters can go by and we can we can focus on tomorrow,” he said.
At this point, Mr Deora remarked, “I would just like to express my admiration for Dr Tharoor, whom I’ve known for a long time. He always puts country before party.”
The delegates are engaging with U.S. lawmakers, think tanks, the press and Indian diaspora while they are in Washington DC.
Published – June 05, 2025 05:01 am IST
