New Delhi: Asserting that India needs to demonstrate leadership on the issue of Palestine, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday slammed the Narendra 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 wrote in an article for a paper.
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’.
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 in 1988. agencies