The Opposition has condemned the Centre’s silence on the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by the US-Israel axis.
In an article in The Indian Express on Tuesday, Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi said: “When the targeted killing of a foreign leader draws no clear defence of sovereignty or international law from our country and impartiality is abandoned, it raises serious doubts about the direction and credibility of our foreign policy…. If such acts pass without principled objection from the world’s largest democracy, the erosion of international norms becomes easier to normalise.”
Sonia cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel and expression of support to its government, two days before the airstrike on Iran, at a time when the Benjamin Netanyahu government’s military campaign in Palestine has been condemned across the world.
“At a time when much of the Global South, along with major powers —and India’s partners in BRICS such as Russia and China — have kept their distance, India’s high-profile political endorsement without moral clarity marks a visible and troubling departure…. And India’s stance is signalling tacit endorsement of this tragedy,” she said.
The Congress has condemned the killing of Khamenei, whose government backed India against a resolution at the UN Commission on Human Rights on Kashmir in 1994, and ensured an Indian diplomatic presence in Zahedan to counter the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
In the article, widely shared online, Sonia said: “India has repeatedly argued for a rules-based international order that protects the weak from coercion… Why should countries in the Global South trust India to defend their territorial integrity tomorrow if it appears hesitant to defend that principle today?
“The appropriate forum for resolving this dissonance is Parliament. When it reconvenes, this disturbing silence over the breakdown of international order must be debated openly and without evasion,” she added.
Left parties protested across the country against the offensive on Iran.
CPM general secretary M.A. Baby said: “The dastardly assassination by bombing of hundreds of girls students in Iran, the destruction of the hospital in Iran named after Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation, and killing of innumerable people; the annihilation of the top-most leadership of Iran, including Ayatollah Khamenei — this is an atrocious unilateral attack.”
He added: “It is shameful that the Modi administration is keeping mum.... India is kneeling before Zionism and US imperialism. It is disgraceful for a country like India, which was a leader of the non-aligned movement.”
Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi posted on X: “Our foreign policy is rooted in sovereignty and the peaceful resolution of disputes — and it must remain consistent. PM Modi must speak up. Does he support the assassination of a head of state as a way to define the world order?”
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said Khamenei was respected across the world, except Israel. “Khamenei sahab has also been an ardent follower of Jawaharlal Nehru. Is Modi angry with this? When such a leader is assassinated, India should officially express grief. The President and the PM should have done this. Who are you scared of? Israel or Trump?” he said.
RJD MP Manoj Jha said diplomacy seemed to have shrunk into the language of “national interest” and “evasion of moral questions”.
“But a civilisation that taught the world lessons in compassion and coexistence — if it falls silent in the face of injustice, that is not merely strategy; it is self-oblivescence.... The country’s shared voice should have reached America regarding those nations that have turned medieval barbarism into today’s ‘new normal’,” he posted on X.
While Modi has expressed solidarity with Gulf countries with foreign military bases that are bearing the brunt of the war, his government has not commented on the bombing of Iran. The Congress led the counter-narrative to this silence on Sunday. “The conflict in West Asia is deeply antithetical to our commitment to Vasudhaiva Kutumbaka (the world is one family), Mahatma Gandhi’s doctrine of ahimsa (non-violence), Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s policy of non-alignment,” the party said in a statement.