PM Modi govt’s silence on Gaza cost India morally, strategically: Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress neta Sonia Gandhi said Modi govt’s silence on Gaza genocide has cost India both in morality and strategic interest without yielding anything for the country except friendship between Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu and PM Modi. In a media article, Sonia said India is slipping further into Israel’s strategic orbit while the rest of the world is distancing itself from it. “PM’s visit to Israel amidst these circumstances, and days before Israel’s war on Iran and the assassination of its top political leadership, will go down in history as a bewildering strategic decision,” she remarked, referring to Modi’s trip to Israel where he was feted in Knesset. She said Modi govt’s silence and inaction on Palestine are not just morally reprehensible but inexplicable from a national interest perspective — arguing that India has alienated itself from its historical allies in Palestine, Iran and West Asia, as also global pubic opinion, and Pakistan has filled the space even though it is a sponsor of terrorism. Sonia said Justice S Muralidhar’s report as UN Independent Commission on Palestine reiterated Israeli actions in G za as genocide. She said the report has sparked fresh conversation about the Gaza genocide worldwide, but has been met with “stony silence” by Modi govt. She said it was not surprising given Justice Muralidhar himself was shunted out of Delhi HC after he questioned inflammatory statements of BJP netas ahead of Delhi riots. The Congress neta noted that Western bloc countries have recognised Palestinian statehood after decades of in- difference, South Africa dragged Israel to ICJ, and several Latin American countries have downgraded or severed ties with Israel. “India remains a lone voice of silence,” she said.Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the TOI App.