Shocked, ashamed that India abstained from voting for ceasefire in Gaza: Priyanka Gandhi

PTI, Oct 28, 2023, 10:55 AM IST

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday expressed ”shock” over New Delhi abstaining on a United Nations resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict, saying that watching in silence thousands of men, women and children in Palestine being annihilated goes against everything India has stood for.

India on Friday abstained from voting in the UN General Assembly on a Jordanian-drafted resolution titled ‘Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations’ that called for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict and unhindered humanitarian access in the Gaza strip.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution that called for an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities. In a post on X, Priyanka Gandhi quoted Mahatma Gandhi’s ”an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” to drive home her point.

”I am shocked and ashamed that our country has abstained from voting for a ceasefire in Gaza,” Priyanka Gandhi said.

”Our country was founded on the principles of non-violence and truth, principles for which our freedom fighters laid down their lives, these principles form the basis of the constitution that defines our nationhood,” she said. They represent the moral courage of India that guided its actions as a member of the international community, she added.

”To refuse to take a stand and watch in silence as every law of humanity is pulverized, food, water, medical supplies, communication and power is cut off to millions of people and thousands of men, women and children in Palestine are being annihilated goes against everything our country has stood for throughout its life as a nation,” Priyanka Gandhi said. India said terrorism is a ”malignancy” and knows no borders, nationality or race and the world should not buy into any justification of terror acts, as it abstained on a resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict. The resolution, which garnered 121 votes in favour, 44 abstentions and 14 member states voting against it, also demanded the immediate, continuous, sufficient and unhindered provision of essential goods and services to civilians throughout the Gaza Strip.

According to media reports, the rising death toll in Gaza is unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Thursday that more than 7,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict. Over 1,400 people were killed in the unprecedented attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7. Hamas has held more than 220 people hostage in Gaza. Israel then launched retaliatory strikes which left a trail of death and destruction.