The party mounts a scathing attack on the Modi government’s foreign policy, calling for debate and discussion on the issue
NEW DELHI – Mounting a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government, the Congress has said that it was time for recalibration, honest introspection, and course correction in the country’s foreign policy to reclaim India’s stature and standing in the comity of nations. The party also took strong exception to India abstaining on the UN resolution on Gaza ceasefire, saying this was not just unfortunate, but a painful and unacceptable decision.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here on Thursday, senior party leader, former union minister and CWC member Anand Sharma, regretted the “fundamental departure” from India’s foreign policy to the detriment of the country’s standing in the comity of nations. He added that it was a matter of serious concern that there was a drift in India’s foreign policy and a visible decline in India’s influence in the world.
Sharma noted that India’s foreign policy was historically meant to promote the national interest and mobilise support for what is right. “There was always a broad-based national consensus on the foreign policy, and it had never been held captive or hostage to partisan politics,” he said, noting that the national consensus has been weakened in recent years. “The government has arbitrarily chosen to depart from India’s traditional position without taking the Parliament into confidence”, he said.
The government of the day, he said, has the mandate to make decisions, but when it comes to foreign policy, it must involve everyone.
The former union minister maintained that it is up to the government to decide how it retrieves India’s standing and rebuilds national consensus. “Time for recalibration, honest introspection and course correction in our foreign policy”, he remarked, while emphasising that equally important and integral to it is the neighbourhood policy.
“We were and rightly so acknowledged as a pre-eminent power of South Asia, but nobody can say that today, and it is for us to rethink on strategy and engage in a manner that, despite challenges and complexities, India regains strength and standing in its own region,” he said.
Referring to India’s abstention from the UN resolution on ceasefire in Gaza, he said, it was painful that the land of Gandhi had not voted for peace. He said, even those countries which enjoyed good relations with Israel and the US voted for the ceasefire, but India abstained. “We had a moral voice and a sense of humanity, but both have declined”, he regretted.
Calling for debate and discussion on India’s foreign policy, he said, “The time has come for India’s strategic engagements and foreign policy to be debated and discussed. No country in a democracy avoids debate or discussion on its foreign policy”.
Observing that multilateralism was under siege as the United Nations was getting weakened with its decisions not getting implemented and frequently violated, he said, India needs to think where it stands when the rule-based multilateral order of governance has started to collapse. “This is a fundamental challenge before us, and it cannot be wished away”, he remarked.
