New Delhi, India – Web Desk: Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, accusing it of maintaining a “stony silence” and “inaction” on what she described as Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza .
In an opinion piece published in The Indian Express, Gandhi said the government’s continued silence “simply cannot be explained rationally or morally” .
Moral and Strategic Failure
Gandhi argued that India’s position has damaged both its moral standing and strategic interests. “The spirit of Indian nationhood demands that it speaks up for Palestinians whose children have been so brutally targeted,” she wrote, adding that “the calculus of national interest demands that India respond to global public opinion” against Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank .
Citing a UN commission report, she noted that at least 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza, and another 44,000 wounded, with 97% of schools destroyed .
Israel’s Response: ‘Wanton Cruelty’
While condemning the October 2023 Hamas attack as “dastardly” and “absolutely unacceptable,” Gandhi said Israel’s military response has been marked by “wanton cruelty and barbarity” .
She cited statements by Israeli leaders calling for the “complete siege” and “total annihilation” of Gaza and denouncing Palestinians as “animals” with “no right to exist” .
Strategic Costs
Gandhi claimed India has “alienated ourselves from our historical allies in Palestine, Iran, and the larger Middle East” and “let Pakistan… swoop in to claim the space of a mediator” .
She also described Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Israel ahead of the US-Israel attack on Iran as a “bewildering strategic decision” .
“Our sacrifice of our strategic interest and morality has yielded us nothing but the friendship between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu,” she wrote .
The BJP responded by accusing the Congress of “vote bank politics,” saying India has articulated its position and provided humanitarian aid to Gaza .
