putting-party-interest-over-national-interest

The Congress has taken a stringently anti-Israel position, both on Iran as well as Palestine.

 

On Saturday, the Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Sonia Gandhi wrote the lead article in The Hindu, a “left of centre” newspaper, saying, “New Delhi’s silence on the devastation in Gaza and now on the unprovoked escalation against Iran reflects a disturbing departure from our moral and diplomatic traditions. This represents not just a loss of voice but also a surrender of values”.

 

There are two reasons behind this stand of the Congress party articulated by the party’s “Chief Patron”, Ms Gandhi. One, the Congress has been consistently taking a stand against the government’s position, no matter what it is and second, the Congress wants to address and clearly appease its “domestic constituency”, more so when Bihar elections are round the corner and Kerala next year.

 

Interestingly, Ms Gandhi has mentioned Iran’s role in opposing a Pakistan-sponsored resolution on Kashmir in 1994 in the United Nations Human Rights Commission when it had to come for voting.

 

But, initially, Iran had supported the resolution and was among the sponsors. It was the deft handling of the then Congress Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao that made Iran reconsider its position. It is a separate story how Congress under Ms Gandhi later treated Rao.

 

Twenty-one years have passed since then and this is a long period in politics as well as diplomacy. So much has changed in global politics since then. India actually cannot take an “unambiguous” position at this stage, particularly after the recent Indo-Pak hostilities.

 

While Iran at best played a neutral role, given its deep relationship with Pakistan, Israel unambiguously stood by India. In fact, Israel was one of the very few countries in the world that came out openly in support of India.

 

India did not condemn the Israel attack on Iran. It called for restraint and negotiations. Earlier, India abstained from voting in a United Nations resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza.

 

This was a changed position from what India did six months ago when it voted for a ceasefire, a vote that was seen against Israel.

The reason was obvious the way Israel had stood for India during the recent hostilities. Besides, Israel has been providing intelligence and arms support to India, which has been of immense help in India’s fight against terrorism.

 

No sane government in India that has country’s interest in mind will like to annoy and antagonise a friendly country like Israel. Even if the Congress was in power, it would do the same thing, what the BJP government has been doing now. India and Israel share a lot of things in common, particularly their fight against terror.

 

So why did Congress take such a strong position against Israel and also against the government of India? In fact, Congress’ aim was to target the government of India more than Israel for the obvious domestic political expediencies.

 

The Jewish state is seen as a perennial enemy of Islam. Most of the Islamic world has been identifying with Palestine. However, in case of Iran not the entire Islamic world has come to its support, as there are strong rivalries between the countries within the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia, one of the leading voices of the Islamic and Arabic world, has always been hostile towards Iran.

 

Even now, it has not taken a clear position in support of Iran or against Israel. Similarly, Qatar and UAE have also remained ambivalent in their stance.

 

And Pakistan, one of the strategic partners of Iran, so far, though initially having condemned the Israel attack has now reportedly agreed to provide airbases to the United States in case it decides to attack Iran.

 

Pakistan’s military chief Field Marshal Asim Munir was invited for lunch to the White House by President Donald Trump, primarily for this reason while overlooking the country’s political leadership.

 

If the Islamic countries can take an ambivalent position, particularly when they do not have any common interest with Israel, why should India take a clear position in support of Iran or Palestine against Israel? And that too when Israel has proved to be a great friend in India’s fight against terror and recent hostilities against Pakistan!

 

Congress wants to address the domestic constituency of Muslim voters who are in abundance in Bihar, which goes to polls in less than six months from now, and Kerala, which goes to elections next year. There is 17 per cent Muslim population in Bihar and 26.5 per cent in Kerala.

 

It is not surprising that the Congress conveniently ignored the reasons that provoked Israel retaliation in Gaza and against Iran. Israel is faced with an existential threat.

 

The Hamas proved the Israeli vulnerabilities with its October 7 brutal attack in which it massacred over 1,200 innocent civilians besides taking a few hundreds as hostages. 

 

The bestial barbarity the Hamas terrorist unleashed on helpless and armless Israelis has no parallels. Retaliations cannot be measured in proportions as the Congress says that Israeli retaliation to Hamas attack is disproportionate.

 

Iran has repeatedly been saying it loud and clear that it wants to annihilate Israel and the country does not have any reasons to doubt Iranian intentions. After all why would Israel initiate a war, which, it knows, can be the most costliest and deadliest ever? 

 

As the Israeli Ambassador to United Nations Danny Danon remarked, “We know our enemies. We know their ideology. And when a regime builds ballistic missiles, enriches uranium to near weapons-grade and openly declares its intent to destroy us — we believe them.”