NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday hit back at Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi over her criticism of the Centre’s stand on the Gaza conflict, accusing the Congress of pursuing “vote bank politics” in matters of foreign policy.The party’s response came after Sonia Gandhi, in an opinion piece published in The Indian Express, alleged that the Modi government had remained silent on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and had moved India closer to Israel at the cost of its long-held foreign policy principles.Addressing reporters, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala rejected Sonia Gandhi’s criticism, saying India had repeatedly articulated its position on the Israel-Palestine conflict at international forums and had extended humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.”The problem is that Congress always puts vote bank on foreign policy and therefore, they, in the name of vote bank politics, never developed any relations with Israel,” Poonawala said.He said India had demonstrated its stand by voting at the United Nations on resolutions seeking a ceasefire and noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had received Palestine’s highest civilian honour.”Sonia Gandhi speaks up for the Muslims in Gaza, they tweet about Rafa, but they are silent on Hindus in Dhaka. This shows that for them, even foreign policy is calculated on the table, on the calculus of vote bank,” he added.In her article, Sonia Gandhi argued that while the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel was “dastardly, horrific, and absolutely unacceptable”, Israel’s subsequent military campaign had been marked by “wanton cruelty and barbarity”. She cited findings of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which alleged that Israeli actions in Gaza amounted to genocide and that children had been disproportionately affected by the conflict.Referring to the latest report of the Commission headed by retired Justice S. Muralidhar, Gandhi said the findings detailed widespread destruction of schools, hospitals and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, besides documenting the large number of children killed and injured during the conflict.The Congress leader also criticised the Modi government for not responding to the Commission’s findings, arguing that India had departed from its traditional foreign policy rooted in post-colonial solidarity, national sovereignty and support for the Palestinian cause.According to the article, India had become “a lone voice of silence” even as several countries, including traditional Western allies of Israel, had recognised Palestinian statehood, restricted arms sales to Israel or backed legal proceedings against Israeli leaders.Sonia Gandhi further argued that India’s growing strategic proximity to Israel had come at the expense of its historical relationships with Palestine, Iran and the wider Middle East. She also questioned the timing of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Israel ahead of the Israel-Iran conflict and claimed the policy shift had undermined India’s diplomatic standing in the region.She contended that both moral considerations and India’s national interest required New Delhi to speak out against the humanitarian situation in Gaza and called on the government to take a clearer position on the conflict.Rejecting those assertions, the BJP maintained that India’s foreign policy has remained balanced and consistent, combining support for a negotiated two-state solution with humanitarian assistance to Palestinians while strengthening ties with Israel.
