‘Conspicuously muted’: Sonia Gandhi calls out Modi govt's ‘profound silence’ on Palestine crisis

Sonia Gandhi acknowledged the violence from both sides but described Israel's retaliation as "nothing less than genocidal."

In a scathing attack on the Modi government's foreign policy, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi accused the Centre of practising "profound silence" on the Palestine crisis and abandoning India's long-standing commitment to justice and human rights.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi said India needs to demonstrate leadership on the issue of Palestine. (ANI)

In an article titled "India's Muted Voice, Its Detachment With Palestine", Gandhi said the government's response to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict has been marked by a disturbing detachment from India's ethical and constitutional values.

Modi's diplomacy driven by 'personal friendship' with Netanyahu: Sonia Gandhi

The Congress leader further argued that India's muted stance on Palestine is not just a diplomatic misstep but a moral failure, one driven, she said, by the Prime Minister's "personal friendship" with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

"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 newspaper.

In her article, she said India's standing on the world stage cannot be shaped by one individual's personal glory-seeking ways, nor can it rest on its historical laurels. It demands persistent courage and a sense of historical continuity.

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

'Nothing less than genocidal': Sonia Gandhi on Palestine

Describing the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israeli citizens and the Israeli military response, Gandhi recognised the violence from both sides but termed Israel's retaliation as "nothing less than genocidal."

Referring to the record devastation, Gandhi said, "As I had raised earlier, over 55,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, including 17,000 children."

"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.

The people of Palestine have endured decades of displacement, prolonged occupation, settlement expansion, restrictions on movement and repeated assaults on their civil, political and human rights, she said.

Gandhi hails global support for Palestine

Gandhi's article comes at a time when several Western nations, including France, the UK, Canada, Portugal, and Australia, have either recognised or voiced support for Palestinian statehood.

"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.