Congress, Left parties condemn Centre for abstaining from UN voting on truce call between Israel and Hamas

“I am shocked and ashamed that our country has abstained from voting for a ceasefire in Gaza,” Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said and quoted Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quotation “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

“Our county was founded on the principles of non-violence and truth; principles for which our freedom fighters laid down their lives. These principles form the basis of the Constitution that defines our nationhood. They represent the moral courage of India that guides its actions as a member of the international community,” she said.

Priyanka Gandhi added, “To refuse to take a stand and watch in silence as every law of humanity is pulverised, food, water, medical supplies, communication and power is cut off to millions of people and thousands of men, women and children in Palestine are being annihilated goes against everything our country has stood for throughout its life as a nation.”

The Congress had always been a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause. It has always supported the “legitimate aspirations” of the Palestinian people even while underlining the need for better ties with Israel.

In 1948, India was the only non-Arab country which voted against a UN proposed partition plan of Palestine in the General Assembly that led to the creation of Israel.

But the needle slightly shifted in 1992 when the then Congress government headed by P V Narasimha Rao opened an Indian Embassy in Tel Aviv, a move aimed at normalising India’s ties with Israel.

While India-Israel ties grew since then, the UPA government headed by the Congress ensured that India remain a friend of Palestine as New Delhi supported Palestine’s inclusion as a full-member of UNESCO in 2011 and co-sponsored a resolution at the UN General Assembly to induct Palestine as a non-member observer state at the UN without voting rights.

The Congress has been watching with dismay New Delhi’s decisive shift in favour of Israel post 2014. It has in the past accused the BJP government of departing from India’s time-tested commitment to Palestine and throwing its support entirely behind Israel.

At the height of the last Israel-Palestine crisis in June 2021, the Congress had slammed the government after India’s statement at the UN General Assembly omitted any mention of the intrusion by Israeli forces into the Holy Al Aqsa mosque during Ramzan prayers.

“The formulation reiterating ‘India’s strong support to the just Palestinian cause and its unwavering commitment to the two-State solution,’ which was part of the Indian statement in the UN Security Council, was absent from the General Assembly statement, raising questions about the overall direction of our policy in the region,” the Congress had said then, telling the government that India, as one of the few countries to have maintained a good relationship with both parties to the conflict, must not be influenced by expediency to dilute its commitment to Palestine.

The latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, however, has initially put the Congress in a quandary. Its first official statement did not name Hamas or use the word terror but merely said the party condemns the “brutal attacks on the people of Israel”. A resolution of the Congress Working Committee later did not mention the Hamas attack at all.

“The CWC expresses its dismay and anguish on the war that has broken out in the Middle East where over a thousand people have been killed in the last two days. The CWC reiterates its long-standing support for the rights of the Palestinian people to land, self-government and to live with dignity and respect. The CWC calls for an immediate cease-fire and for negotiations to begin on all outstanding issues, including the imperative issues that have given rise to the present conflict,” the CWC resolution said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge did a balancing act some days ago by condemning the “brutal attacks by Hamas on the people of Israel” while calling for a ceasefire, arguing that “the indiscriminate actions by Israel’s military forces in civilian areas, that includes a siege of the Gaza Strip and bombings in it” are also unacceptable.

It was not just the Congress. The Left parties too slammed the government.

“It is shocking that India abstained on a Resolution overwhelmingly adopted by the UN General Assembly calling for a humanitarian truce titled ‘Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations’ in the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza,” Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja said in a joint statement.

The Left parties once again accused the government of succumbing under US pressure.

“India’s abstention on a resolution that was overwhelmingly adopted shows the extent to which Indian foreign policy is being shaped by being a subordinate ally of US imperialism and the Modi government’s actions for consolidating the US-Israel-India nexus. This negates India’s long standing support to the Palestinian cause,” the statement said.

Pointing out that Israel has stepped up its “genocidal air and ground attacks” in the Gaza strip, the Left leaders said, “Respecting the overwhelming mandate of the UN General Assembly, there must be an immediate ceasefire.”

“The United Nations must reenergize itself to implement the mandate of the Security Council for a 2-State solution with pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine,” they said.

The CPIM also announced that its top leaders would stage a dharna at its AKG Bhawan headquarters Sunday in solidarity with the people of Palestine and call for an end to the genocidal aggression in Gaza.