THE ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has triggered a 'war' in India's political circles after prime minister Narendra Modi extended solidarity for the Jewish state following deadly attacks by the Hamas extremists from the Gaza Strip.
Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), spoke about 'Israeli aggression' of the 'most Right wing government' hours after Modi expressed support for Israel. The Indian National Congress, another major opposition party, came up with a more careful statement to condemn the violence against Israel while supporting the Palestinian cause.
The difference snowballed into a political tussle with Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming that India is "safe" under the Modi government compared to the previous government of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) saying terror and bomb blasts were common.
The Congress, which had led the UPA government between 2004 and 2014, countered saying there were 30 "terror attacks" since 2014.
The BJP also asked the opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc to see how the opposition in Israel has fully backed the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in counter-attacking the Palestinian forces. One of its spokespersons said while the opposition in Israel put the nation first, those in India were opposing the nation while opposing Modi.
He also mentioned past incidents such as the surgical strikes in Balakot in Pakistan in 2019 which the opposition had questioned and accused them of giving clean chit to Pakistan on terror attacks.
BJP leaders also took on the Congress's tweet over '30 terror attacks' since 2014, citing steps such as ‘surgical strikes’ had been undertaken in response to any misadventures from the neighbouring country of Pakistan.
However, the opposition INDIA continued to lack a consistent stand on the matter, something which was seen during the recent controversy over the 'Sanatan Dharma' (eternal religion) row sparked by remarks by a minister from the southern state of Tamil Nadu whose party is a member of INDIA.
“Sitaram Yechury has expressed his opinion which is okay with all of us. Every constituent of INDIA bloc has its own ideologies and political alignment. We cannot control them,” a senior Congress leader was quoted as saying by News18 on Yechury’s remark on the current Israel-Palestine war.
“Strongly condemn these attacks and counter-attacks in the Gaza Strip of Palestine. UN must ensure the rights of the Palestinian people for a Home Land, withdrawal of all Israeli illegal occupation of Palestine lands & implementation of UNSC resolution of a two-nation solution,” said Yechury.
The statement issued by the Congress was a more cautious one, according to political observers. While it condemned “the brutal attacks on the people of Israel”, it also said that it had always believed that “the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a life of self-respect, equality and dignity must be fulfilled only through a process of dialogue and negotiations while ensuring the legitimate national security interests of the Israeli people".
Both the CPI(M) and Congress are constituents of INDIA.
No other party which is a member of INDIA has reacted on the issue.
In a statement later, the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemned the attacks and counter-attacks between Hamas and the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
“Already, many human lives have been lost and the situation is poised to escalate causing more deaths, and miseries. This confrontation must end. The most right-wing Netanyahu government in Israel has been indiscriminately occupying Palestine lands and establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank. So far this year, prior to this conflict, 248 Palestinian lives have been lost including 40 children,” it added.
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