‘Five Planes Down’: Trump’s Ceasefire Claim Hits 25 Mentions | 5 Latest News Of India Today | Congress Mocks With ‘Silver Jubilee
Washington DC / New Delhi | July 23, 2025
Former US President Donald Trump has made his now-notorious declaration once more that he brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a gripping incident when "they shot down five planes." Trump made this claim for the 25th time publicly since 2019, which has led India's opposition party Congress to call it the "silver jubilee" of his repeated false claim.
This story has once again stirred reactions across political circles, becoming one of the top news in India and a trending item among the 5 latest news of India today.
❝ What Did Trump Say This Time?
In speaking at a campaign rally in Wisconsin on Monday evening, Trump brought up again his go-to story from his days in the White House.
“I ended a war between two nuclear powers — India and Pakistan. Nobody speaks of it. They were shooting at one another. Five aircraft were destroyed. I said, 'We can't have this happen.' And we stopped it. Nobody gives us credit," Trump declared to loud applause from the audience.
This one is very much like his previous claims, when he has repeatedly asserted to have averted a full-scale war in South Asia through direct intervention. Yet, there is no official report of five aircraft being shot down during the 2019 India-Pakistan military standoff.
The statement has again found its place in India breaking news now, with political and diplomatic experts calling it misleading and factually incorrect.
Background: The India-Pakistan Standoff of 2019
The plea is to the Pulwama-Balakot incident of 2019, when India carried out air raids in Balakot, Pakistan, as a response to a suicide attack that killed 40 Indian paramilitary troops in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir.
After the air raids, an Indian fighter jet was shot down by Pakistan, and Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured and later freed as a gesture of goodwill. There is no report of five aircraft having been shot down during the fighting, either by India or Pakistan.
Congress Strikes Back with Sarcasm
In quick but sarcastic response to Trump's latest repeat, India's Congress party took to social media to say:
"Donald Trump has now made his 'five planes' statement the 25th time. It's a Silver Jubilee! Should we present him with a souvenir?"
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also joked:
"If you say something wrong 25 times, it still remains wrong. But Trump is obviously enamored of his own account of South Asian history."
The story quickly caught public attention and circulated across major outlets under Today national news.
BJP's Measured Silence
The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has till now refrained from responding to Trump's comments. But government sources have in the past made it clear that India had not requested any third-party facilitation in 2019, and the report of U.S. intervention is exaggerated and misplaced.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) categorically asserted in 2019:
"No request has been made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.S. President to initiate any mediation between Pakistan and India."
As this narrative resurfaces in 2025, it once again finds itself amid latest news of India, sparking renewed interest in Indo-US diplomatic conversations.
Why Trump Keeps Bringing This Up
Political commentators say that Trump's constant invocation of the India-Pakistan ceasefire are foreign policy bragging rights for his campaign trail, indicating that he is a world peacemaker and a master negotiator in fraught geopolitical situations.
As Daniel Markey, Senior Fellow at the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, has written:
"Trump prefers to personalize foreign policy victories. The India-Pakistan storyline works well with his base because it reinforces the image of him as a strongman who ends wars."
Trump’s latest speech is now trending across platforms under Today national news and adds to the 5 latest news of India today dominating headlines globally.
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