Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar boldly asserted that no power on the planet ‘can dictate India on how to handle its affairs’, and that all the country’s decisions are taken by its leadership.
Dhankhar made the remarks while addressing the officer trainees of the Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES) 2024 batch at the Vice-President’s Enclave, on Friday, July 19.
The Indian Vice President’s comments come amid the mounting pressure from the Opposition for answers following US President Donald Trump’s claims of brokering a “ceasefire” in the recent India and Pakistan conflict.
“Don’t be guided by narratives outside. All decisions in this country, a sovereign nation, are taken by its leadership. There is no power on the planet to dictate to India how to handle its affairs,” the vice president said, according to ANI.
What did Donald Trump claim?
The POTUS has repeatedly claimed that he played a key role in negotiating a ceasefire between the two arch enemies – India and Pakistan – on May 10, and even tying it to a trade deal offered to both the neighbours by him.
“We stopped a lot of fights, very, very big one was India and Pakistan. We stopped that over trade,” Trump had told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu while meeting over the Israel-Hamas conflict.
India, however, has pushed back, firmly stating that the decision to de-escalate came through direct military-level talks— between India and Pakistan’s Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs)—with no foreign involvement.
Adding to his series of claims, Trump also claimed earlier this week that five fighter jets were shot down during the conflict between India and Pakistan in May, without explicitly mentioning whose jets were downed.
‘Operation Sindoor is not over’
Stating that Operation Sindoor — as part of which India retaliated to Pakistan’s attack in Pahalgam on April 22 — “is not over,” Dhankhar claimed that “there will be challenges” to create divisiveness.
“There will be challenges. Challenges will be to create divisiveness. For example, we have seen global conflagrations — two of them in particular, you know them. These have become open-ended. Look at the devastation of property, human lives, and their misery. And look at our calibration. We taught a lesson — taught it well. We chose Bahawalpur and Muridke, and then brought it to a temporary conclusion. ‘Operation Sindoor’ is not over — it continues,” said the Vice President.