PTI
New Delhi
The Congress on Saturday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel “shameful” and “ill-timed,” saying it creates the perception of a political endorsement of military escalation which is deeply antithetical to India’s historic commitment to a rules-based international order.
In a statement, Salman Khurshid, Chairman of the Congress Foreign Affairs Department, said the Congress is “deeply concerned” at Modi’s visit to Israel from February 25 to 26 at a moment of heightened tensions, a breakout of hostilities and the palpable risk of wider conflict and the palpable risk of wider conflict in West Asia.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that his country has begun “major combat operations in Iran” after Israel launched strikes.
The Congress said Modi’s visit is “particularly ill-timed” because it creates a perception of partisan alignment and tacit endorsement of unprovoked aggression could have grave strategic consequences. It also said it risks conveying alignment with and endorsement of an incumbent government ahead of national elections.
“Prime Minister Modi’s visit at this juncture creates the perception of a political endorsement of military escalation, which is deeply antithetical to India’s historic commitment to a rules-based international order and the United Nations Charter,” Khurshid said.
Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh also that two days after Modi “celebrated his visit to Israel”, Israel and the US began their joint assault on Iran.
“This was fully expected given their military build-up in the last few months. Mr. Modi nevertheless chose to go to Israel, where he displayed the highest moral cowardice. He declared that India stood with Israel and got himself an award for saying so.
“This Israel visit was shameful and it is even more so in light of the war that has been launched by two of Mr. Modi’s ‘good friends’,” Ramesh wrote on X.
Khurshid said India’s foreign policy is deeply rooted in Vasudhaiva Kutumbaka (“the world is one family”), Mahatma Gandhi’s doctrine of ahimsa (non-violence), Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s policy of non-alignment and embedded in Article 51 of India’s Constitution, which mandates “respect for international law and treaty obligations” (including the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Paris Agreement).
