S. Jayashankar responded by denying Rahul Gandhi's statement that the External Affairs Minister had been sent to the U.S. several times to get some moment for PM Narendra Modi at President Donald Trump's inauguration. As he said, Rahul's words were falsehood and embarrassed the country name abroad. This conversation occurred within the Lok Sabha as Rahul Gandhi raised these allegations. He had earlier claimed that Modi was looking for an opportunity at the Trump swearing-in and had, in fact, repeatedly sent the External Affairs Minister to the U.S. for this purpose. Reacting to this, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, and External Affairs Minister S. Jayashankar outrightly denied the charge stating it as a baseless accusation. They also clarified that Rahul Gandhi was making up the facts to suit his political narrative. Rijiju also said that the country's foreign policy and diplomacy should go hand in hand with the national interests and cannot be undermined by false claims.
Rahul's statements were projected as trying to raise political furor but government officials vigorously replied that there was no such discussion and it was an outright fabrication of Rahul's imagination. S. Jayashankar brought the moment into a high drama by bringing in the fact that such comments can do huge damage to the country's image at the international level, giving the impression that Rahul's comment could have had political motivations behind it.
Rahul's claims about the trip to the U.S. in December were disputed by S. Jayashankar, who confirmed that there was no discussion on seeking a moment for the Prime Minister during Trump's inauguration. According to Jayashankar, the visit was in relation to official diplomatic engagements and not related to the claims Rahul made.
In reaction to a question of whether such political allegations could weaken the country's diplomatic stature, S. Jayashankar highlighted in depth the nature of statements that would be harmful for India's foreign policy goals and could have the impact in the long term.