Congress attacked the Narendra Modi-led Union government for abstaining from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The outstanding majority of the member states were in favour of the resolution, with 149 countries supporting the ceasefire. India was among the nineteen states that abstained.
Considering the prior precedence of Indian support for Palestine, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge felt the country now stands “virtually isolated”, questioning whether India’s stance against genocide, war, and injustice has changed in recent years. He demanded that Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar face accountability for his “blunders” in Indian foreign policy.
He stated that Congress had condemned both the October 8, 2023, Hamas attack on Israeli civilians and the following ruinous bombings of Gaza, where more than 60,000 lives have been lost. Kharge asked whether India’s traditional non-alignment and moral diplomacy policies have been changed under the Modi regime.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal further slammed the Centre with the abstention, singling out India from the South Asia, BRICS, and SCO bloc. He demanded answers from the government as to why the Indian demand for a ceasefire made in December 2024 has changed in the months since.
General secretary of the All India Congress Committee, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, meanwhile, called the move a “tragic reversal” of India’s stance as a post-colonial state. She criticised the Centre’s stance of condoning and endorsing the many war crimes committed by the Netanyahu-led Israeli regime. She encouraged the return of the principles enshrined in the Constitution and reaffirmed the values of truth and non-violence.
Senior Congress leader and party spokesperson, Pawan Khera, said that the abstention was borne “out of staggering moral cowardice”. He reiterated the historic Indian stance on the conflict, referencing India’s being the first non – Arab nation to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1974, inviting Yasser Arafat to the Non-Aligned Movement Summit of 1983, and recognition of the independent and sovereign state of Palestine in 1988.
The UNGA resolution, introduced by Spain, was passed with an outstanding majority of votes, with 149 votes in favour, 12 against, and 19 abstentions. Permanent Representative of India to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish, said the vote came amid famine and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. News of India’s abstention comes at a time when Israel’s unchecked rampage in the Middle East continues with attacks on neighbouring Jordan and Iran.
| Edited by Veena Nair | 
