April 11, 2026
Opposition slams Modi government as Pakistan hosts US-Iran peace talks
As leaders from the US and Iran gather in Pakistan to attempt negotiating a truce, many Indians are watching with narrowed eyes.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spent over a decade carefully crafting India’s image as a global leader, at least domestically. For those who bought into that narrative, archrival Pakistan’s emergence as an influential mediator is difficult to swallow.
Even those who might dismiss the ‘Vishwaguru‘ label, translating to ‘teacher of the world,’ Islamabad’s diplomatic emergence registers as a failure of India’s foreign policy.
India’s largest national opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC), is pointing the finger of blame squarely at Modi.
“The government’s incompetence has allowed Pakistan to claim a pivotal role in the great-power competition in Asia, which will also give it leverage over India on crucial bilateral matters through third parties, effectively internationalizing India-Pakistan matters,” the INC said in a statement.
Akhilesh Yadav, another key opposition leader and Modi critic, said the BJP had “ruined our foreign policy.”
“There was a time when it seemed like India would become the world guru, but Pakistan is strengthening its foreign policy at the international level. India appears weak in foreign policy,” he said after Washington and Tehran agreed to a temporary ceasefire.
The peace talks in Islamabad come after a difficult year for US-India relations.
While both remain close partners in trade, security, defense and technology, a string of diplomatic rows — US trade tariffs, Trump’s insistence that he brokered peace between India and Pakistan, and New Delhi’s ties with Russia — have hit India’s image as a diplomatic champion within the country.
What is the government’s stance?
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar previously defended the government when opposition Leaders raised this issue in an all-party meet over the Middle East conflict.
Jaishankar had called Pakistan a ‘dalal,’ a word which means ‘broker’ but has negative connotations.
More recently, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India welcomed the ceasefire between the US and Iran. “As we have continuously advocated earlier, deescalation, dialogue and diplomacy are essential to bring an early end to the ongoing Conflict,” he said, without commenting on Pakistan’s role as the mediator.