Trump or Modi: whose lies pack more punch?

Believing what Donald Trump says is never easy. ‘It’s complicated,’ the man’s relationship with the truth. According to The Washington Post, during his first term as US President, Trump lied 30,573 times—an impressive average of 21 lies a day.

People who know him say his entire life has been one big experiment in falsehood. From the story of his parents’ origins to his business dealings to his relationships with women to politics—no aspect of his life is untouched by lies. When he is caught, it’s like water off a duck’s back.

So when Trump claims he stopped India and Pakistan from hurtling towards a nuclear war, you can’t take it with the kind of seriousness one might reserve for a head of state.

Now, our own prime minister isn’t exactly a modern-day Harishchandra. No one has dared to start counting his lies (which Indian newspaper would dare?), but even if someone did, he’d likely have fallen short of Trump’s tally. That man seems to have pledged to never speak the truth.

Modi has made no such vow. He is… shall we say, situational. Not exactly a friend of the truth but not its sworn enemy either. If the truth will do the job, great. If not, he has no qualms about leaning on a falsehood.

Be it the promise of Rs 15 lakh in every Indian’s bank account, or the claim to double farmers’ incomes, or the alleged benefits of demonetisation, or fudged Covid death figures, or his famous line about “no one has entered Indian territory” in Ladakh—his record speaks volumes. Which is why, his statements cannot be taken at face value either.

To get at the truth of the India–Pakistan ceasefire—who brokered it and on what terms—it simply won’t do to go by the claims of these two gentlemen. We’ll need to probe deeper. After Trump’s early departure from the recent G7 summit in Canada on 16–17 June, skipping, among other commitments, a face-to-face meeting with Modi, the two leaders had a 35-minute phone call on 17 June—Modi in Canada, Trump back in the US. Following the call, India’s ministry of external affairs issued a press statement detailing the conversation.

For the first time, India officially denied Trump’s claim of having mediated the truce between India and Pakistan.

The Indian government’s statement read: ‘Prime Minister Modi made it explicitly clear to President Trump that at no point during the entire episode was there any discussion, at any level, on an India–US trade deal or on any US mediation proposal between India and Pakistan.

The discussion on halting military operations took place directly between the Indian and Pakistani armed forces via existing communication channels, and it began at Pakistan’s request. The prime minister firmly reiterated that India does not and will not accept mediation. There is full political consensus on this in India.’

So, did Trump accept what Modi told him? The Indian statement is silent on this. The US side released no statement about the phone call. What we have from the Indian side is that Trump ‘listened carefully’. As to the effect of listening carefully, what we know is that just a few hours after the call, Trump repeated—for the thirteenth time—that he was the one who stopped the India–Pakistan war.

The very next day, Trump invited Pakistan’s Army chief Gen. Asim Munir for lunch, where Munir endorsed Trump’s claim and thanked him for securing the ceasefire. Back to square one!

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Still, the Indian statement isn’t meaningless. Whatever Modi may have said to Trump and whatever Trump may have heard, the statement made one thing clear: no Indian party wants US mediation in India–Pakistan matters. This has been consistent policy for the past six decades, and we can take heart that whatever may have happened in the latest encounter, India is still firm on this pillar of its foreign policy.

The question that still hangs in the air is: who secured the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and on what terms? The Indian statement does admit that, 24 hours before the ceasefire, US Vice President J.D. Vance had called Modi to discuss the situation. Modi says there was no talk of trade during that call, but what was discussed? The statement offers no details.

If the ceasefire was truly a bilateral affair between India and Pakistan, then why did Trump announce it first, rather than India’s or Pakistan’s foreign minister? Modi claims the initiative came from Pakistan—which checks out, given reports that Pakistan’s air force suffered heavy losses on day three of the conflict. But he does not clarify if Pakistan’s request came through the US? Was America the go-between? Did the talks start because Washington stepped in?

The statement also dodges Modi’s bold claim in his address to the nation that the ceasefire came only after Pakistan promised “there would be no more terrorist activity or military misadventure from their side”. Who made this promise? To whom? And how will it be enforced? These questions remain unanswered.

It smells fishy alright. Someone is lying; maybe everyone is, and it’s hard to judge whose lie wins. We might have to wait for the historians to tell us the truth.