Diplomacy cannot be reduced to appeasement, nor can it be conducted through public posturing designed for domestic political consumption, BJP sources appeared to deliver a lesson in diplomacy as they criticised Sonia Gandhi's article which questioned the government's "silence" on the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on Saturday morning.
"Sonia Gandhi's recent article attempts to portray India's calibrated response to the ongoing West Asian crisis as silence. That characterisation is not only misleading, it reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how responsible diplomacy works," BJP sources told NDTV.
The sources pointed out that India has called for restraint and need for de-escalation, adding that that Sonia Gandhi's criticism amounts to "reckless commentary".
"India has not been silent. India has consistently called for restraint, respect for sovereignty and de-escalation. A country with millions of its citizens living and working across the Gulf region, with critical energy dependencies and deep economic linkages, cannot afford reckless commentary," the sources said.
The number of Indians who live in the Gulf and West Asia is about 9 million. There are around 10,000 Indian citizens who live, study and work in Iran, while over 40,000 live in Israel.
"Sonia Gandhi remains selectively outraged. There is little acknowledgment of the anxiety of Indian workers, students, and families caught in the crossfire. Her commentary appears driven less by concern for Indian lives and more by an instinct to frame foreign policy through the prism of appeasement," the sources said.
Currently, the airspace of West Asia is almost closed. With flight services disrupted due to the military escalation in the Middle East, hundreds of Indians are stranded in Dubai, Doha and other key hub airports, with many of them taking to social media to appeal to the Indian government for assistance.
"Responsible governments do not issue statements to satisfy partisan narratives; they act to safeguard their people and their strategic interests," the sources said.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which met on Sunday, expressed concern over the safety and security of the large Indian expatriate community in the region.
In an op-ed published in The Indian Express, titled 'Government's silence on killing of Iran leader is not neutral, it is abdication', Sonia Gandhi asserted that the assassination was carried out "without a formal declaration of war and during an ongoing diplomatic process.
The Government of India, she said, has "refrained from condemning the assassination or the violation of Iranian sovereignty". Gandhi also highlighted Tehran's support for New Delhi at the UN when the Kashmir topic was raised in 1994.
She also flagged PM Modi's visit to Israel just before the attacks on Iran and expressed concern over "India's high-profile political endorsement without moral clarity".
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the situation in West Asia was a matter of grave concern. "India stands for peace and stability," he said while addressing a joint press briefing with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
"India has always called for dialogue and diplomacy to find a solution to such disputes," he said, underlining New Delhi's longstanding position on peaceful resolution of conflicts.
PM Modi also spoke to the King of Bahrain and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and condemned the recent attacks on the two countries in violation of their sovereignty and territorial integrity, asserting that India stands in solidarity with their people in this difficult hour.
He also spoke to King Abdullah II of Jordan and conveyed deep concern at the evolving situation in the region.
The BJP sources also questioned Congress' alleged silence when minority Hindus came under attack in Bangladesh.
"It is also ironic that those who were conspicuously silent when Hindus were attacked in Bangladesh now describe India's measured approach as abdication," the sources said.
The sources also framed it the global perspective, claiming most countries have "not engaged in dramatic condemnation".
"Except for a handful of countries such as Azerbaijan, Pakistan or Turkey, hardly any major world leader or significant power has publicly issued strong statements regarding Khamenei's death. Even Russia, often described as close to Iran, has limited itself to carefully calibrated language. Major countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Canada and Italy have not engaged in dramatic condemnation or performative positioning," the sources said.
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