In a scathing criticism of the Modi authorities, Congress Parliamentary Occasion chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday (March 3, 2026) talked about its silence on the targeted assassination of Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is no longer neutral but an abdication, and raises excessive doubts about the course and credibility of India’s foreign policy.
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The musty Congress president also demanded that as soon as Parliament reconvenes for the 2d fragment of the Funds session, the authorities’s “disturbing silence” over the breakdown of worldwide screech ought to be debated overtly and without evasion.
In her article published in The Indian Recount, Ms. Gandhi talked about there would possibly perchance be an urgent want for “us to rediscover” the upright power and jabber it with clarity and dedication.
“On March 1, Iran confirmed that its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, had been assassinated in targeted strikes carried out the previous day by the United States and Israel. The killing of a sitting head of state in the midst of ongoing negotiations marks a grave rupture in contemporary international relations,” Ms. Gandhi talked about.
But, past the shock of the match, what stands out equally starkly is Clean Delhi’s silence, she talked about.
The Authorities of India has refrained from condemning the assassination or the violation of Iranian sovereignty, she famed.
‘Before every part, ignoring the big US-Israeli onslaught, the High Minister (Narendra Modi) confined himself to condemning Iran’s retaliatory strike on the UAE without addressing the sequence of occasions that preceded it. Later, he uttered platitudes about his ‘deep issue’ and talked of ‘dialogue and diplomacy’ — which is precisely what became underway earlier than the big unprovoked assaults launched by Israel and the US,” Ms. Gandhi said.
“When the targeted killing of a foreign leader draws no certain defence of sovereignty or worldwide law from our nation and impartiality is abandoned, it raises excessive doubts about the course and credibility of our foreign policy,” Ms. Gandhi said in her article.
Silence, in this instance, is not neutral, she asserted.
Ms. Gandhi pointed out that the assassination was carried out without a formal declaration of war and during an ongoing diplomatic process.
“Article 2 (4) of the United Nations Charter prohibits the threat or utilize of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any narrate. A targeted killing of a serving head of narrate strikes on the coronary heart of these principles,” she said.
If such acts pass without principled objection from the world’s largest democracy, the erosion of international norms becomes easier to normalise, she argued.
“The unease is compounded by the timing. Barely Forty eight hours earlier than the assassination, the High Minister returned from a focus on with to Israel, where he reiterated unequivocal give a rob to for the authorities of Benjamin Netanyahu, whilst the Gaza battle continues to plan worldwide outrage over the size of civilian casualties, many of them females and children,” Ms. Gandhi said.
At a time when much of the Global South, along with major powers and India’s partners in BRICS such as Russia and China, have kept their distance, India’s high-profile political endorsement without moral clarity marks a visible and troubling departure, she said.
“The penalties of this match lengthen past geopolitics. The ripples of this tragedy are visible across continents. And India’s stance is signalling tacit endorsement of this tragedy,” she claimed.
Ms. Gandhi pointed out that the Congress has unequivocally condemned the bombings and targeted assassinations on Iranian soil, describing them as a dangerous escalation with grave regional and global consequences.
“Now we possess extended condolences to the Iranian folk and to Shia communities worldwide, reiterating that India’s foreign policy is anchored within the restful settlement of disputes, as mirrored in Article 51 of the Constitution of India. These principles ‘ sovereign equality, non-intervention and the promotion of peace ‘ possess historically been integral to India’s diplomatic identity. The contemporary reticence, therefore, seems no longer merely tactical, but discordant with our acknowledged principles,” she said.
The present government would do well to remember that in April 2001, the then prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, during an official visit to Tehran, warmly reaffirmed India’s deep ties with Iran, both civilisational and contemporary, Ms. Gandhi said.
“His (Vajpayee’s) acknowledgement of those lengthy-standing relations seems to abet no relevance for our contemporary authorities,” she said.
She further asked as to why should countries in the Global South trust India to defend their territorial integrity tomorrow if it appears hesitant to defend that principle today.
“The appropriate forum for resolving this dissonance is Parliament. When it reconvenes, this tense silence over the breakdown of worldwide screech ought to be debated overtly and without evasion,” Ms. Gandhi said.
The targeted killing of a foreign head of state, the erosion of international norms, and the widening instability in West Asia are not peripheral matters; they touch directly upon India’s strategic interests and moral commitments, she asserted.
“A definite articulation of India’s space is overdue. Democratic accountability demands no much less, and strategic clarity requires it,” Ms. Gandhi said.
“India has lengthy invoked the upper of vasudhaiva kutumbakam ‘ the sector is one family. That civilisational ethos is no longer a slogan for ceremonial diplomacy; it implies a dedication to justice, restraint and dialogue, even when doing so is inconvenient.
“At moments when the rules-based order is under visible strain, silence is abdication,” Ms. Gandhi talked about.
India has lengthy-aspired to be greater than a regional energy and it has sought to relieve as the sense of right and mistaken-keeper of the sector, she talked about.
That stature became constructed on a willingness to focus on for sovereignty, peace, non-violence and justice even when doing so became inconvenient, she talked about.
“At this moment, there is an urgent need for us to rediscover that moral strength and articulate it with clarity and commitment,” Ms. Gandhi talked about.
Khamenei became killed in a critical assault by Israel and the U.S. within the early hours of Saturday.
The US and Israel launched a critical assault on Iran on Saturday, with US President Donald Trump calling on the Iranian public to rob alter of their destiny and upward push against the Islamic leadership that has ruled their nation since 1979.
