Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], July 11 (ANI): Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while accusing them of 'peddling lies' and said that the PM lacked the courage to speak against Donald Trump.

Citing the 'ceasefire' announcement by US President Donald Trump during the India and Pakistan conflict after the Pahalgam terror attack, Kharge lashed out at PM Modi, saying that the Prime Minister lacks the courage to speak against Trump.

'I want to tell you about the lies being peddled by Modi and the BJP? When the India-Pakistan war was going on, Donald Trump said that he ended the India-Pakistan war and that he told them to stop. Trump said this 16 times. Modi did not respond to him. Why? Because he did not have the courage to speak against Trump,' Kharge said while addressing the gathering at the Samvidhan Bachao rally here.

Intensifying his attack against PM Modi, Kharge said that the BJP's double-engine governments were busy 'giving land to Adani' and selling Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).

'When you don't have the courage, such people should not rule the country. The person who doesn't fight with strength to protect the country, we will not accept him as a leader. Modi keeps saying things, but what work are his double-engine governments doing? They are busy giving land to Adani and selling PSUs. Everything is for the rich. Nothing is for the poor in Odisha,' Kharge said.

'I come from the Dalit community, and I strongly feel that if the constitution is saved, I will be saved. Dalits and Adivasis will be saved. Youth and women will be saved. Farmers will be saved,' he added.

The central government came under fire after Trump announced a 'ceasefire' between India and Pakistan following Operation Sindoor, launched by the Indian Army in the aftermath of the ghastly Pahalgam terror attack.

However, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, earlier this month, refuted Trump's claims that he used trade to force India and Pakistan to accept a ceasefire after tensions escalated between the two neighbouring nations.

Jaishankar said he was present when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice President JD Vance held a telephonic conversation on the night of May 9.

When asked about whether Trump's claims of using trade as a means of resolving the India-Pakistan conflict have affected trade negotiations, Jaishankar said, ' No, I don't think so. I think the trade people are doing what the trade people should be doing, which is negotiating with numbers and lines and products and making their tradeoffs. I think they're very professional and very focused about it.' (ANI)