India’s act of abstaining from the U.N. vote in the General Assembly on the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict is quite shameful, member of the Congress Working Committee A.K. Antony has said.
He was speaking at a function organised at the Kerala Pradesh Congress Coommittee headquarters on the occasion of the day of the martyrdom of the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi here on Tuesday. The occasion was also a commemoration of the birthdays of the former Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy
The unilateral, partisan approach and policy adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the conflict between Israel and Gaza should be revised. India should go back to the foreign policy that was being followed during the time of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and A.B. Vajpayee. India should stand with the people of Palestine on their demand for a free Palestine nation. Indira Gandhi was the first world leader to formally recognise the Statehood of Palestine and the leader of Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) the late Yasser Arafat, Mr. Antony recalled.
Indira Gandhi was a secular leader who gave up her own life to protect secularism. India’s strength is in its diversity and Mrs. Gandhi was a leader who drew strength from the diverse caste, communities, religion and language and taught others to respect this diversity. It would be dangerous to the nation’s unity to impose unilateralism, Mr. Antony said.
He said that he has blind faith and belief in the Nehru family which has always upheld patriotic,secular ideals and Gandhian values, he added.
Remembering Indira Gandhi as a fearless and fierce political leader, who had the utmost kindness and empathy towards the poor and downtrodden, the Congress working committee member Ramesh Chennithala, said that the Congress party has always expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people. It was not a policy aimed at winning any vote bank. Indians have always found a unique parallel to the Palestinian cause and the people who are fighting for their right to the land that they were born in.
Mr. Chennithala administered the Indira Gandhi oath of re-dedication to the Congress workers. A book corner was opened in the KPCC library in memory of the late Oommen Chandy, by including over 1,000 books that had been handed over from Mr. Chandy’s personal collection.
KPCC general secretaries and party workers were present in large numbers at the meeting.
