New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) The BJP on Saturday stepped up its attack on Congress leader Sonia Gandhi over her article on the Gaza conflict, alleging that she has misrepresented India’s stand and asked whether the Congress is indirectly providing “cover fire” to terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
The ruling party asserted that India has consistently articulated its stand on the Gaza and Palestine issue, extended humanitarian aid, and voted in favour of United Nations resolutions calling for a ceasefire.
The remarks came after Gandhi, in an article published in The Indian Express on Saturday, alleged that the Modi government’s “stony silence and inaction on Israel’s Gaza genocide” are not just “morally reprehensible” but also “inexplicable from a national interest perspective”.
The Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson claimed that India has alienated itself from its historical allies in Palestine, Iran and the larger Middle East, distanced itself from global public opinion, and allowed Pakistan to occupy the space of a mediator.
Reacting sharply to the article, BJP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that Gandhi is trying to appeal to “radical votes”.
He also questioned why the Congress remained silent on the October 2023 attacks on Israel while raising an outcry over Gaza.
“After the INDI bloc has reached the point of becoming irrelevant, the first and last chairperson of the now-defunct UPA alliance, Sonia Gandhi, has once again turned to the politics of radical votes by expressing grief over Gaza,” Trivedi said in a post on X.
“The country wants to know, and the Congress must clarify: By remaining silent on the October 2023 massacre while raising an uproar over Gaza, is the Congress, through this article, indirectly providing ‘cover fire’ to terrorist organisations like Hezbollah and Hamas,” he asked.
He claimed that Gandhi is under the “misconception” that by expressing grief over Gaza, the Congress will overcome the disappointment of being out of power or diminish Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s influence.
“By expressing grief over Gaza, Sonia Gandhi believes she can somehow overcome the disappointment of being out of power or diminish Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s influence. That, however, is her misconception,” he said.
Referring to India’s ties with Iran, Trivedi said Tehran’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi reflected the strong bilateral relationship between the two countries.
“When Iran itself has personally invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, what better proof could there be of the good relations with Iran?” he asked.
He also accused the Congress of remaining silent on the killings of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“Those who consider speaking out on the murders of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan as an insult to themselves are now becoming so deeply sorrowful over Gaza,” he said.
Another BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that it once again showed that for the Congress, “vote bank policy” takes precedence over “foreign policy”.
“Sonia Gandhi, through her article, is trying to misinform people and conceal the real truth. The fact is that India has not only articulated its position on Gaza and the Palestine issue on multiple occasions, but has also provided tangible humanitarian aid,” he said in a video statement.
Highlighting the prime minister’s diplomatic outreach, he said Modi has been able to maintain ties with countries on opposing sides of global conflicts.
“It is Prime Minister Modi who has been able to navigate a fine line and talk to both Israel and Palestine at the same time, to America, Russia and Ukraine at the same time, and to the Western camp and Iran at the same time. This is not a policy of non-alignment but of all-alignment,” he said.
He alleged that Congress governments never developed relations with Israel due to the party’s “vote bank politics”.
“The problem is that the Congress always practises vote bank politics in foreign policy. In the name of vote bank politics, it never developed relations with Israel. The same party keeps speaking up, eulogising, platforming and sympathising with the cause of Hamas, but has not once categorically condemned the terror attacks on Israel,” he alleged.
The BJP spokesperson further alleged that while the Congress speaks up for Muslims in Gaza and Rafah, it remains silent on Hindus in Dhaka.
“This shows that even its foreign policy is guided by the calculus of vote bank politics,” he alleged.
In the article for The Indian Express, the Congress leader said the spirit of Indian nationhood demands that it speaks up for Palestinians whose children have been so brutally targeted and the calculus of national interest demands that India respond to the global public opinion against the Israeli regime’s genocidal actions in Gaza and its “brutal displacement and dispossession of lakhs of Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank”. PTI ADI ZMN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.