New Delhi, June 27 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member and party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi on Saturday criticised Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for questioning India’s foreign policy approach to the escalating tensions in West Asia and the crisis in Palestine and Gaza.

“After the INDI alliance has reached the point of becoming irrelevant today, the first and last chairperson of the now-defunct UPA alliance, Mrs Sonia Gandhi ji, has once again set her sights on the trade of radical vote and expressed grief for Gaza,” the BJP leader posted on the social media platform X.

Writing in an English newspaper, Sonia Gandhi had launched a scathing attack on the Union government, alleging that its “stony silence” and “inaction” on Israel’s “Gaza genocide” are not just morally reprehensible but are also undermining the nation’s interests.

Trivedi began his post by pointing to the series of electoral setbacks suffered by the Opposition alliance in recent times, where the Congress is its principal constituent, and to the political reverses following the withdrawal of some of its regional partners.

“By displaying grief for Gaza, Sonia ji believes she will somehow offset the sorrow of being out of power or diminish Modi ji’s influence, but this is her misconception,” he said.

Pointing out that Iran recently “personally invited” Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the state funeral of its late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, he asked what better proof there could be of the current cordial relations with Iran.

Raising the issue of persecution elsewhere, he questioned why “those who consider speaking out on the murders of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan as an insult to themselves are now becoming so deeply sorrowful over Gaza”.

Trivedi further alleged that Congress leaders remained silent on the October 2023 killings of Israelis carried out by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.

“The country wants to know, and Congress must clarify: By maintaining absolute silence on the October 2023 massacre, yet raising an uproar over Gaza, is the Congress party, through this article, indirectly providing cover fire to terrorist organisations like Hezbollah and Hamas?” he said.

–IANS

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