New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel “shameful” and “ill-timed,” saying it creates the perception of a political endorsement of military escalation which is deeply antithetical to India’s historic commitment to a rules-based international order.
In a statement, Salman Khurshid, Chairman of the Congress Foreign Affairs Department, said the Congress is “deeply concerned” at Modi’s visit to Israel from February 25 to 26 at a moment of heightened tensions, a breakout of hostilities and the palpable risk of wider conflict and the palpable risk of wider conflict in West Asia.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that his country has begun “major combat operations in Iran” after Israel launched strikes.
The Congress said Modi’s visit is “particularly ill-timed” because it creates a perception of partisan alignment and tacit endorsement of unprovoked aggression could have grave strategic consequences. It also said it risks conveying alignment with and endorsement of an incumbent government ahead of national elections.
“Prime Minister Modi’s visit at this juncture creates the perception of a political endorsement of military escalation, which is deeply antithetical to India’s historic commitment to a rules-based international order and the United Nations Charter-particularly the prohibition on the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State (Article 2 [4]) and the peaceful settlement of disputes (Article 2 [3]),” Khurshid said.
Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh also that two days after Modi “celebrated his visit to Israel”, Israel and the US began their joint assault on Iran.
“This was fully expected given their military build-up in the last few months. Mr. Modi nevertheless chose to go to Israel, where he displayed the highest moral cowardice. He declared that India stood with Israel and got himself an award for saying so.
“This Israel visit was shameful and it is even more so in light of the war that has been launched by two of Mr. Modi’s ‘good friends’,” Ramesh wrote on X.
Khurshid said India’s foreign policy is deeply rooted in Vasudhaiva Kutumbaka (“the world is one family”), Mahatma Gandhi’s doctrine of ahimsa (non-violence), Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s policy of non-alignment and embedded in Article 51 of India’s Constitution, which mandates “respect for international law and treaty obligations” (including the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Paris Agreement).
The former external affairs minister said that pursuant to this commitment, India has consistently and constructively intervened against apartheid in South Africa, in the Korean War through the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission, in its support for anti-colonial movements across Asia and Africa, as a leading voice of the Global South within the Non-Aligned Movement, and through its contributions to humanitarian relief and United Nations peacekeeping operations.
“In light of this principled legacy, the Indian National Congress (INC) remains firmly committed to peaceful coexistence, stability and shared prosperity in West Asia, as indeed the world,” he noted.
“The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) government needs to be mindful that India has civilisational, economic, energy, geopolitical and diasporic ties not only with Israel, but also with Iran, Palestine, and the wider region,” Khurshid said.
Equally problematically, he said, Modi’s perceived sanction of actions that undermine the sovereignty of multiple nations undermines India’s own principled position on Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
“To preserve both moral authority and strategic credibility, India must apply-uniformly and without exception-the very principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and peaceful resolution of disputes that India has consistently invoked in defence of its own legitimate national interests,” he said.
“Finally, PM Modi’s visit is particularly ill-timed as it risks conveying alignment and endorsement of an incumbent government on the eve of national elections,” the Congress leader said.
The concern is not without precedent, he said, adding that the 2019 “Howdy Modi” event in Houston was widely perceived as blurring the line between state diplomacy and partisan political signalling during the U.S. electoral cycle.
“Both incidents underscored the inherent risks in the conflation of diplomatic engagement with electoral politics. It is imperative that Prime Minister Modi understand that relationships are between nations, not between individual leaders or ideologically aligned political parties,” Khurshid asserted.
He said the Congress values and seeks to deepen India’s partnership with Israel, as it does with Iran, Palestine and other nations in West Asia.
The Congress also supports engagement in furthering India’s strategic and economic interests, he said.
“However, such engagement must be carefully balanced against diplomatic considerations and pursued with prudence, particularly when those interests risk being jeopardised by conflict or undermined by perceptions that the government of the day is sacrificing the nation’s civilisational and constitutional principles, and commitment to the rules-based international order,” the chairman of Congress’ Foreign Affairs department said.
Modi was on a two-day visit to Israel during which the two nations elevated their “time-tested” relationship to a special strategic partnership and agreed to fast-track a long-awaited free trade deal.
Modi also backed the Gaza peace initiative, asserting that humanity must never become a victim of conflict.
In his media statement after holding wide-ranging talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Modi said India’s security interests are directly linked to peace and stability in the Middle East and that New Delhi has been pitching for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Gaza.
