New Delhi: India’s request that no media questions be allowed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in France was due to latter’s “unpredictable behaviour” in interactions with other foreign leaders, government sources said on MondayThe response came on Monday after US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, said over the weekend that the Ministry of External Affairs had made “one ask” ahead of the June 17 meeting between Modi and Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian. According to Gor, Trump had initially agreed when told that “the Indians prefer no questions”, but subsequently invited journalists to ask him questions after the two leaders made their opening remarks.The Indian response, made through official sources, did not dispute Gor’s account that it had sought to prevent questions from the media, but rather framed it as a precautionary demand.“Discussions regarding arrangements for public appearances of leaders are normal practice ahead of any VVIP visit. In this regard, the Indian side communicated its standard practice for such visits,” government sources said.The sources also offered a reason for what they described as India’s “cautious approach”, pointing to Trump’s infamous interactions with other foreign leaders.“Delegations when meeting the US President are wary about his unpredictable behaviour, as may be seen from his interactions with the President of South Africa, Ukraine etc. Thus, the cautious approach by India,” the sources said.Both episodes cited by Indian sources played out before television cameras in the Oval Office.The reference to Zelenskyy is to the Oval Office confrontation in February 2025, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president in front of journalists, with Trump accusing him of being “disrespectful” and “gambling with World War III”. The meeting ended abruptly, with the Ukrainian delegation leaving the White House without signing a planned minerals agreement.Three months later, in a meeting South African president Cyril Ramaphosa had sought to use to repair strained bilateral ties, Trump dimmed the lights in the Oval Office to play a video and produce a set of printed news articles that he said supported his claim that white farmers in South Africa were being targeted in a “genocide,” an allegation that South Africa and no international human rights group have verified.Gor had recounted the episode about the Modi-Trump meeting at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum in New Delhi on Saturday, while discussing his efforts to ease friction in India-US ties since Trump returned to office for a second term.He said Trump had asked him whether the Indian government had made any requests regarding the meeting. “And the MEA had one ask,” Gor said. “It was, ‘let’s bring in the media, let’s not do a full press conference, no questions’.”Gor said he conveyed the request to Trump, who responded, “sure, no problem”. But after Modi and Trump finished their prepared remarks, Trump proceeded to take questions from the assembled journalists while seated next to Modi. One journalist asked Trump about US Navy strikes on commercial vessels in West Asia, including an attack on a commercial ship in Strait of Hormuz in which three Indian mariners were killed. Trump dismissed concerns about the risks to seafarers, saying that “seafaring is a rough profession”.The US ambassador’s remarks were part of his reply to the opening question on the steps that he had taken to ease friction in bilateral ties since Trump began his second term.Congress leader Pawan Khera criticised the government’s response as an indication that Modi routinely seeks to avoid facing foreign media.“This MEA response to the US Ambassador’s comment is revealing because: It suggests that it may be Modi’s normal practice to plead with foreign governments not to make him face the media,” Khera said in a post on X on Monday.“He pleads. But they don’t listen. Then they publicly mock him by revealing that they ignored him,” he added. Khera further alleged that Modi “won’t fight back – because he is compromised”, and said the issue was not merely about the prime minister but about “the office of India’s Prime Minister that is being diminished and disrespected”.Modi’s avoidance of open press conferences has drawn scrutiny during his recent foreign trips, with journalists in Amsterdam and Oslo raising the matter with MEA officials travelling with him.In Oslo, Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng directly asked Modi at a public event whether he would take questions from what she described as “the freest press in the world”. Modi did not respond. Lyng later attended a press conference by Indian diplomats, leading to a tense exchange with MEA secretary (west) Sibi George.During Modi’s visit to New Zealand, MEA secretary (east) Rudrendra Tandon was also asked why the prime minister had not held a press conference. He attributed the approach to the preferences of Indian voters, saying the country’s predominantly rural electorate wanted “direct contact” and did not like being “spoken to through intermediaries”.