Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “must speak up” on the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 1 in a joint United States-Israeli military operation.
In a social media post, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha highlighted that the escalating hostilities between the US, Israel and Iran were “pushing a fragile region towards wider conflict” and that crores of people, including Indians, faced uncertainty.
“While security concerns are real, attacks that violate sovereignty will only worsen the crisis,” Gandhi said. He said that unilateral attacks on Iran, as well as Iran’s attacks on other countries in West Asia, had to be condemned.
“India must be morally clear,” Gandhi said. “We should have the courage to speak plainly in defence of international law and human lives.”
He asserted that India’s silence at this stage diminishes its standing in the world.
“PM Modi must speak up,” the Congress leader said in the social media post. “Does he support the assassination of a head of state as a way to define the world order?”
In a similar vein, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday said the government’s silence on Khamenei’s killing was not neutral but amounted to abdication.
Writing for The Indian Express on Monday, she said the assassination of a sitting head of state during an ongoing diplomatic process marked “a grave rupture in contemporary international relations”.
“Yet, beyond the shock of the event, what stands out equally starkly is New Delhi’s silence,” she added.
She highlighted that Modi had initially condemned Iran’s retaliatory strike on the United Arab Emirates without addressing the sequence of events that preceded it, and later only expressed “concern” and called for dialogue and diplomacy, which she said had been underway before the “massive unprovoked attacks”.
“Silence, in this instance, is not neutral,” she said and added that the targeted killing, carried out without a formal declaration of war, struck at the principles of sovereignty and international law reflected in the United Nations Charter.
The conflict began on Saturday after Israel and the US launched a joint operation targeting the Iranian regime, alleging that its actions constituted an “existential threat to Israel”. Israel has been claiming that Iran is “closer than ever” to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.
The killing of Khamenei, who had controlled all branches of the government and the armed forces since 1989, further escalated an already volatile situation in the region.
New Delhi has not released any statement after the killing of Khamenei.
However, on Sunday, Modi on social media said that he condoled the deaths in the United Arab Emirates during a conversation with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “Thanked him for taking care of the Indian community living in the UAE,” Modi said. “We support de-escalation, regional peace, security and stability.”
On Monday, Modi said that he held a telephonic conversation with Netanyahu a day earlier to discuss the current regional situation in West Asia. “Conveyed India’s concerns over recent developments and emphasised the safety of civilians as a priority,” Modi said about the phone call. “India reiterates the need for an early cessation of hostilities.”
Also read: Top updates: Drone strikes on US embassy in Saudi Arabia, Trump says war on Iran can go ‘forever’
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