The Congress on Saturday (June 20, 2026) lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “not taking up” with U.S. President Donald Trump the killing of three Indian seafarers as a result of an American attack and alleged that “PR first” was the government’s mantra and not “nation first”.
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The Opposition party also cited the responses of the former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh — during the diplomatic row surrounding MEA official Devyani Khobragade in 2013 — and Indira Gandhi to argue that previous Congress governments had given primacy to nation’s interest when speaking with America.
In the context of the Modi-Trump bilateral meeting and the public remarks they made on Wednesday (June 17, 2026) on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France, Congress’s media and publicity department head, Pawan Khera, claimed that PM Modi sat with his gaze lowered before Mr. Trump.
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“He sat huddled on the sofa, addressing Trump as ‘excellency’. It was truly embarrassing. It looked as though a company agent were speaking to the boss; we had never seen a prime minister like this before,” Mr. Khera said at a press conference here.
The U.S. killed three Indian sailors, yet Trump did not even express regret because Narendra Modi sat there “meekly”, content merely with the praise he was receiving, the Congress leader said.
“Narendra Modi kept giggling but failed to ask Trump a single question about the killing of Indian sailors, simply because his skin had been complimented.
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“(External Affairs Minister) S Jaishankar returns after being reprimanded by Marco Rubio. Narendra Modi returns after hearing praise for his skin. It is deeply disheartening to see the government of the world’s largest democracy return from the global stage having suffered such indignity,” Mr. Khera said.
This is not “nation first’ but “PR first”, the Congress leader asserted.
The message Manmohan Singh conveyed to the U.S. as the Prime Minister regarding the Khobragade case had astonished the entire world, Mr. Khera said.
It was the UPA government that succeeded in placing Pakistan on the FATF ‘grey list’, and yet today, Modi’s “friend” Trump invites Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir to dinner following Operation Sindoor, he said.
Mr. Khera further said in 1986, Voice of America wanted to set up a transmitter in Sri Lanka, right next to the Indian coast, but Rajiv Gandhi did not allow it to happen.
“It took us 200 years to drive out the British, but in just 12 years, Narendra Modi has brought back servitude,” Mr. Khera alleged.
“When Modi and Trump sat together, three things happened — the US renamed the US Indo-Pacific Command back to US Pacific Command; the US depicted the PoK region as part of Pakistan on a map; and the US State Department suspended EB-2 and EB-5 visas for Indians in the July 2026 visa bulletin,” he said.
In his meeting with Trump, Modi did not raise the issue of the killing of Indian sailors, discuss the one-sided U.S. trade deal or bring up the US president’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ ceasefire claims, Mr. Khera said.
“Narendra Modi does not wish to learn from Indira Gandhi. At the very least, he should learn from (Italian Prime Minister) Giorgia Meloni how to look someone in the eye and give a firm response,” he said, referring to her rebuttal of Mr. Trump’s claim that she “begged” for a
Mr. Khera said the U.S. torpedoed and sunk the ‘IRIS Dena’, a vessel “that was our guest”. Yet, PM Modi did not raise this issue with Mr. Trump, he added, referring to the incident in March.
“Trump stated that if anyone attacked India while Modi was the prime minister, the US would come to its aid. This statement made it sound as though we were an American colony… whereas India has won numerous wars on its own strength,” the Congress leader said.
The Opposition party earlier attacked Mr. Modi for not mentioning the killing of three Indian seafarers during his public remarks with U.S. President Trump, calling it “pathetic” and “totally unacceptable”.
While PM Modi raised the issue of the safety of seafarers with Mr. Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit at Evian-Les-Bains, France, the Congress slammed him for not specifically raising the issue of the seafarers’ killing as the two leaders made a public statement.
PM Modi and U.S. President Trump held wide-ranging talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit, focusing on the proposed bilateral trade deal, bilateral defence and security ties, and the West Asia crisis.
The meeting came days after three Indian seafarers were killed onboard a merchant ship in a U.S. military strike.
The Prime Minister also commended Trump for his leadership in rekindling the hope for peace and progress in West Asia.
“We have always said that there should be freedom of navigation. Lakhs of Indian seafarers operate in the maritime trade sector. I believe that their security is equally important. I am confident that the deal (with Iran) will have provisions for the security of the seafarers,” Modi had said in his media comments.
Mr. Trump described the meeting as “great” as he heaped praise on PM Modi.
Published – June 20, 2026 04:43 pm IST
