Opposition targets Modi govt on Gaza vote abstention; CPI(M) top leadership to sit on dharna on October 29

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said she was 'shocked and ashamed' at the abstention while the CPI(M) announced a protest of its top leadership on Sunday 'in solidarity with the people of Palestine and calling for an end to the genocidal aggression' in Gaza.

New Delhi: Opposition parties on Saturday pounded on the Narendra Modi government for abstaining from a vote in the United Nations seeking immediate humanitarian truce in Israel-Palestine conflict, describing it as a move that went against what India has stood for and one that negates the country's long-standing support to the Palestinian cause.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said she was “shocked and ashamed” at the abstention while the CPI(M) announced a protest of its top leadership, who have gathered here for Central Committee meeting, at its headquarters AKG Bhavan on Sunday “in solidarity with the people of Palestine and calling for an end to the genocidal aggression” in Gaza.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and his CPI counterpart D Raja also issued a joint statement on India’s “shocking” abstention, which “negates India’s long-standing support to the Palestinian cause”.

They claimed it showed 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”.

In a post on ‘X’, Priyanka quoted Gandhi's ‘an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’ and said India 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 guided its actions as a member of the international community, she said. “I am shocked and ashamed that our country has abstained from voting for a ceasefire in Gaza...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,” she added.

Yechury and Raja said in their statement that Israel has stepped up its “genocidal air and ground attacks” in the Gaza strip after the resolution was adopted.

“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 two-State solution with pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine,” they added.