The diplomatic failure of the Modi government

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleges that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is controlled by American President Donald Trump and that Modi acts according to Trump's instructions. During his election campaign in Tamil Nadu, the Congress leader accused the Prime Minister at a public meeting in Thoothukudi, alleging that he visited Israel just before the American-led attack on Iran at Trump's direction. While this could be dismissed as mere election campaigning, it must be pointed out that for those who have closely observed the foreign policy followed over the last twelve years since Narendra Modi took office, Rahul Gandhi's words underscore a convincing reality. The relatively neutral and non-aligned foreign policy followed by the world's largest democracy has today given way to absolute servility to America's wishes and pro-Israel bias. The Modi administration has, to date, adopted a stance of either supporting Trump — who attempts to rule the world with distorted, insane, and volatile economic and foreign policies that can in no way be trusted or favored — or remaining silent in the face of his unjust positions. While Trump repeatedly claims that it was because of his command that India had to abruptly stop "Operation Sindoor," conducted as a retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, the Modi government hesitates to give a direct reply even to that. The response of our government to Trump’s announcement of imposing unbearable tariffs on Indian products exported to America was also one of utmost submissiveness.

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The intimate friendship and alliance of the Modi government with Israel are not only a result of submissiveness to the US but are inherently in stark contrast to the just stance India has followed ever since the unjust establishment of that nation. Previous governments had adopted an approach that, while recognising Israel's existence and sovereignty, also acknowledged the right of the Palestinian people — who were unjustly displaced from their homeland — to live on their own land. Without publicly stating that it rejects this, the Modi government’s approach that tells the world that it is tacitly supporting the extreme atrocities being committed by the Netanyahu administration with full American cooperation as part of a planned project to eliminate the Palestinian people. As Rahul Gandhi pointed out, Narendra Modi in a speech delivered to the country's parliament, the Knesset during his visit to Israel last February, lavishly extolled the cultural, political, and military cooperation between India and Israel and praised Israel as the fatherland of Indian Jews. Let alone the fact that Modi did not touch upon Israel's carnage in Gaza, he did not even utter a single word about the ongoing slaughter in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank—territories that were earmarked for Palestinians in the Oslo Accords signed by Netanyahu's predecessors — where that entire population is being imprisoned or deported, and their homes and places of worship are being razed to the ground using bulldozers. Since October 2023, Israel has imprisoned over 18,500 Palestinians, including 1,500 children. Most recently, the Netanyahu administration has cooked up a law to subject many of them to the death penalty even before their trials are completed.

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It is a natural consequence of this foreign policy — which has discarded justice, neutrality, and humanity — that the great nation of India now stands passive, unable to play a part in the diplomatic moves to end the Iran-America-Israel war. Iran, for its part, is a country that maintained friendship and commitment toward India while keeping a distance from Pakistan. Iran is also the country that, in today’s crisis, was ready to supply oil to India even after we halted years of ongoing oil imports by yielding to Trump’s pressure. This is a time when the calamities of the America-Israel-Iran war, which is putting the Gulf countries in a predicament — countries where millions of Indians earn a living and sustain our economy by sending back trillions in foreign exchange — are posing a threat to world peace as a whole. It is the prayer of 140 crore Indians as well that this war ends as quickly as possible. However, our government remains passive, unable to play any role in the efforts for a ceasefire. Meanwhile, Pakistan, which was standing on the brink of international isolation, has suddenly entered the scene in the role of a mediator, capturing the world’s attention and applause by providing a venue in Islamabad for peace talks. Whether the U.S.-Iran talks succeed or not, Pakistan is exploiting the opportunity to the maximum. For patriots, the worrying question is whether the Modi government will have the resolve to at least re-examine this irony of fate.