Now and then, we face moments that pose questions whose answers lie beyond notions of nations and borders. Such moments compel us to confront our moral imagination and the choices we make when confronted by unbearable human suffering. Mr Prime Minister, such a moment confronts us now.
A thousand days have passed since the tragedy that began on October 7, 2023. Since then, Gaza has witnessed unprecedented devastation. I have written to you on several other occasions, but this time, I request you to read this letter not as a note from a parliamentarian, but as a message from a fellow Indian who, like you and millions of our compatriots, has inherited a civilisation which has long believed that moral courage is the highest expression of political leadership. This is a moment when the consequences of the Indian state’s stance echo far beyond the calculations of diplomacy or the compulsions of statecraft. Experts have discussed military operations, diplomatic negotiations, strategic victories and geopolitical realignments, but I am convinced that future generations will look back at this period as something far more unsettling — as the moment when humanity itself was placed on trial, and much of the world struggled to answer whether its commitment to justice was truly universal or merely selective.
Independent India’s greatest strength has been its moral vocabulary. Do we need to remind ourselves that it was Mahatma Gandhi who transformed the language of politics by insisting that the means were inseparable from the ends? This stance was not merely a strategy to achieve India’s freedom. Through this insistence, Bapu enabled India to possess and offer to the world a philosophy for humanity. When Jawaharlal Nehru spoke of non-alignment, peaceful coexistence, and international solidarity, he was building on this legacy. He consistently positioned India as a conscience keeper among nations, capable of speaking uncomfortable truths and defending human dignity without fear. I realised that when Rabindranath Tagore said, “where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high,” he may have been describing not only a moral state that every democracy must strive to preserve internally, but also an ethical condition it should push other nations to accept.
The first casualty of every war has always been truth, but what the world has witnessed over these thousand days shows something even more disturbing. We have witnessed how the powerful calibrate truth according to their strategic convenience and ideological preference. Compassion, which ought to arise spontaneously upon witnessing the suffering of innocent civilians, now appears burdened with political qualifications. Is the value of a child’s life determined by nationality, geography or the calculations of power? Surely, these are not the civilisational values that India has aspired to represent.
For decades, the international community painstakingly built a language around human rights, believing that universal principles on dignity would transcend race, religion, nationality and military power. Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian nation, however, compels us to ask whether these ideals remain genuinely universal or whether they have gradually become privileges extended or held back as per the geopolitical interests of powerful states.
Our Constitution has taught generations of Indians that liberty, equality, and dignity are not rewards bestowed selectively, but they are guarantees flowing from the equal worth of every human being. International law, too, draws legitimacy not from the force of armies but from the consistency of its moral application. No institution can establish its credibility by censuring the powerless. Impartiality alone gives justice its enduring legitimacy.
Bapu reminded us that a seemingly neutral stance in the presence of sustained injustice can mean acquiescence, and eventually complicity, towards such acts. My concerns about what the Indian government has chosen not to do are also because the government’s acquiescence has made many Indians weary because their repeated exhortations have had no impact. I cannot stress enough that when remembrance is selective, it stops being a moral lesson and becomes a political tool. If one atrocity deserves eternal remembrance while another is couched with qualifiers, the former is just a partisan story that has forfeited its credibility.
My letter is not an argument against any nation, any people or any faith. I do, however, wish to make an impassioned appeal against the normalisation of collective punishment. My letter is an appeal against the dangerous illusion which holds that overwhelming military superiority can be a substitute for moral legitimacy. It is an appeal against the dangerous lies of the powerful who claim they are “establishing peace,” while continuing to inflict prolonged humiliation on an entire people.
Mr Prime Minister, the future of humanity will not be determined by technological innovation, military capability or economic might of states. It will ultimately depend on the moral capacity of societies to preserve the ability to be disturbed by another human being’s suffering, regardless of identity or geography. Governments will change, and new international alliances will evolve. But no generation has ever been able to evade the judgment of history.
When future generations ask where India stood during one of the defining moral crises of our age, I am sure they will judge the moral turbidity of our times very severely. Have we been able to ensure that our universities, our media, our intellectuals, and our public institutions remained guardians of independent moral judgment or were they reduced to echoes of political convenience? Above all, Mr Prime Minister, we will be judged on whether India dared to push the world to recognise its reflection when it looked into the mirror of its own conscience during these thousand days?
The writer is Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Rashtriya Janata Dal
At a time when Israel has faced mounting international criticism, legal scrutiny and growing pressure on defence exports from several traditional suppliers, India’s manufacturing capacity appears to have helped mitigate some of those supply chain constraints, particularly in such areas as drones and ammunition.
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