"Rajiv Gandhi asks for US President Reagan's help in negotiating with Pakistan": BJP's Nishikant Dubey

May 28, 2025

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday claimed that Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had written a letter to then United States (US) President Ronald Reagan to help in negotiating with Pakistan.

Sharing a purported letter written by a US president to the Indian Prime Minister on X, Dubey stated that it was decided under the 1972 Shimla Agreement that any dispute between India and Pakistan would be negotiated only between the two countries and there would be no mediator.

"It is not easy to be Gandhi. This letter is in reply to a letter written by US President Ronald Reagan to the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. When it was decided under the 1972 Shimla Agreement that any dispute between India and Pakistan would be negotiated only between the two countries and there would be no mediator, why did the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ask for US President Reagan's help in negotiating with Pakistan?" he questioned on X.

This revelation adds a new layer to the ongoing political debate over third-party involvement in India-Pakistan relations, especially in the wake of recent escalations triggered by the Pahalgam terror attack and India's retaliatory Operation Sindoor.