Sonia Gandhi slams Modi government for silence on Gaza war

NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Sonia Gandhi, leader of India’s main opposition Congress party and matriarch of the Nehru–Gandhi political family, has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for what she called an abdication of India’s historic responsibility toward Palestine, denouncing New Delhi’s silence on the Gaza war as a betrayal of the country’s moral and diplomatic traditions.

In a sharply worded OpEd published in The Hindu, Gandhi condemned the government for abandoning India’s legacy of supporting anti-colonial and liberation struggles, recalling India’s role in opposing apartheid South Africa, backing Algerian independence, and helping to midwife Bangladesh’s birth in 1971. 

She noted that India recognised the Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1974 and Palestinian statehood in 1988, describing those moves as “fundamentally moral decisions.”

“The Modi government’s response has been characterised by a profound silence and an abdication of both humanity and morality,” Gandhi wrote. She argued that India’s foreign policy is being shaped less by constitutional values than by Modi’s personal friendship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

She also denounced New Delhi’s decision to deepen economic ties with Israel at a time of intensifying violence in Gaza. Gandhi pointed to India’s recent signing of a bilateral investment agreement with Israel and its hosting of far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has drawn international condemnation for incendiary remarks against Palestinians.

Her comments come as countries including France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal and Australia have formally recognised Palestinian statehood, joining more than 150 UN members. Gandhi described these recognitions as “a historical moment” and urged India to be part of what she called a global assertion of justice, self-determination and human rights.

“It is a reminder that in the modern world, silence is not neutrality — it is complicity. And here, India’s voice, once so unwavering in the cause of freedom and human dignity, has remained conspicuously muted,” she wrote.

She cited UN estimates that more than 55,000 Palestinians, including 17,000 children, have been killed since October 2023, accusing Israel of carrying out “nothing less than genocidal” attacks following the October 7 Hamas assault.

For Gandhi, the Palestine issue is not only about foreign policy but also about India’s civilisational identity. She wrote that the plight of Palestinians echoes India’s own colonial past and argued that silence in the face of oppression amounts to complicity.

“The expectation is not of partisanship in this conflict, of choosing between Israel and Palestine,” Gandhi concluded. “The expectation is of principled leadership, consistent with the values that have long guided India.”