During Parliament's debate on Operation Sindoor, Congress lawmaker Deepender Hooda came out of the blue and made American fast food chain McDonald's center stage.
He said that the Indian government could either confront former US President Donald Trump for his contentious ceasefire claims or decide to shut down McDonald's restaurants all over India.
Trump has continued to claim that he was instrumental in bringing peace between India and Pakistan after India conducted airstrikes on terror camps in retaliation against the Pahalgam terror attack, which resulted in the deaths of 26 civilians.
New Delhi, though, has continued to insist that Islamabad was the one who approached them seeking a ceasefire. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has also firmly rejected Trump's claims, particularly that trade pressure forced India to agree to a ceasefire.
Although Trump has repeated stating such things, Hooda faulted the Indian government for not denying these clearly and publicly. "The US has to decide what kind of relationship it wants with India. India is a world power. The US cannot put India on the same level as Pakistan," he said in the debate.
Hooda further asserted that the government must either engage in a direct dialogue with the US to avoid misinformation or "close down McDonald's in India." The US cannot keep up two faces, he added—the chase for economic gains on the one hand and making false diplomatic assertions on the other.
Explaining his reference to McDonald's during the debate, Hooda subsequently clarified that it was intended to indicate the incompatibility of commercial interests with peddling falsehoods. The BJP, however, seized the moment to ridicule the statement. A video clip from his speech went viral where he made the McDonald's comment with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra seen smiling alongside him. The BJP captioned the tweet, "Claim so ridiculous even his party leader cracked up."
Unfazed, Hooda reiterated his stance on X (formerly Twitter), noting that Trump had made his trade-based ceasefire statement at about the same time as the McDonald's remark. "Love and trade cannot be one-sided. The Indian government has to take a firm stand. The US has to be made aware of the Indian market's power," he urged.
Read also| Operation Sindoor Strikes Sent Clear Message to Pakistan, says Army chief Upendra Dwivedi
