India must demonstrate leadership on Palestine issue; Modi govt's response abdication of humanity: Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI — Asserting that India needs to demonstrate leadership on the issue of Palestine, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday slammed the Modi government's stance, saying its response has been characterised by a "profound silence" and an abdication of both humanity and morality.

She said the government's actions appear to be driven primarily by the personal friendship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu rather than India's constitutional values or its strategic interests.

"This style of personalised diplomacy is never tenable and cannot be the guiding compass of India's foreign policy. Attempts to do the same in other parts of the world, most notably in the United States have come undone in the most painful and humiliating ways in recent months," Gandhi said in her article published in The Hindu.

This is the third article by Gandhi on the Israel-Palestine conflict, published in a national daily in the recent past, in which she has vehemently criticised the Modi government's stance on the issue.

India's standing on the world stage cannot be wrapped up into the personal glory-seeking ways of one individual, nor can it rest on its historical laurels. It demands persistent courage and a sense of historical continuity, she said in her article titled 'India's muted voice, its detachment with Palestine'.

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Gandhi pointed out that France has joined the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal and Australia in recognising Palestinian statehood -- "the first step in the fulfilment of the legitimate aspirations of the long-suffering Palestinian people".

More than 150 of the 193 countries that are members of the United Nations have now done so, she said.

Gandhi underlined that India had been a leader in this regard having formally recognised Palestinian statehood way back on November 18, 1988, after years of support to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

She cited the examples of how India raised the issue of apartheid in South Africa even before Independence and during the Algerian struggle for independence (1954-62), India was one of the strongest voices for an independent Algeria.

In 1971, India intervened firmly to prevent genocide in what was then East Pakistan, mid-wifing the birth of modern-day Bangladesh, she pointed out.

On the critical and sensitive issue of Israel-Palestine as well, India has long maintained a delicate but principled position, emphasising its commitment to peace and the protection of human rights, the former Congress chief said.

India needs to demonstrate leadership on the issue of Palestine, which is now a battle for justice, identity, dignity and human rights, Gandhi asserted.

Through multilateral forums such as the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) observer platforms, India has urged negotiated settlements, adherence to international law, and a cessation of violence, she said.

India has also provided humanitarian and development aid to Palestine, including scholarships for students, support for education and health care, and capacity-building for institutions in Gaza and the West Bank, Gandhi pointed out in her article.

In the last two years, since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Palestine in October 2023, India has all but relinquished its role, she opined.

"The brutal and inhumane Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, were followed by an Israeli response that has been nothing less than genocidal. As I have previously raised, more than 55,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, including 17,000 children," she said.

The residential, schooling and health infrastructure of the Gaza Strip has been obliterated, as have agriculture and industry, Gandhi said.

"Gazans have been forced into a famine-like situation, with the Israeli military cruelly obstructing the delivery of much-needed food, medicine, and other aid -- a 'drip-feeding' of aid amidst an ocean of desperation," she said.

In one of the most revolting acts of inhumanity, hundreds of civilians have been shot down while trying to access food, she pointed out.

Gandhi opined that the world has been slow to respond, implicitly legitimising the Israeli actions.

The recent moves by several countries to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state are a welcome and long-due departure from the policy of inaction, she said.

"This is a historical moment and an assertion of the principles of justice, self-determination and human rights. These steps are not merely diplomatic gestures; they are affirmations of the moral responsibility that nations bear in the face of prolonged injustice.

It is a reminder that in the modern world, silence is not neutrality, it is complicity," she said.

And here, India's voice, once so unwavering in the cause of freedom and human dignity, has remained "conspicuously muted", Gandhi said, hitting out at the Modi government.

Meanwhile, it is appalling that just two weeks ago, India not only signed a bilateral investment agreement with Israel, in New Delhi, but also hosted its highly controversial far-right finance minister who has invited global condemnation for his repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, she said.

Gandhi argued that India must not approach the issue of Palestine as merely a matter of foreign policy but as a test of India's ethical and civilisational heritage.

"We owe Palestine a sense of historical empathy in its quest for dignity, and we also owe Palestine the courage to translate that empathy into principled action," she said.

"India's historical experience, its moral authority and its commitment to human rights should empower it to speak, advocate and act in favour of justice without delay or hesitation," she said.

The expectation is not of partisanship in this conflict, of choosing between Israel and Palestine, but the expectation is of principled leadership, consistent with the values that have long guided India, our nation, and on which its freedom movement was anchored, Gandhi said.