Picture : ANI/X
In a scathing criticism of the Modi government, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi said its silence on the targeted assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is not neutral but an abdication, and raises serious doubts about the direction and credibility of India’s foreign policy.
The former Congress president also demanded that when Parliament reconvenes for the second part of the Budget session, the government’s ‘disturbing silence’ over the breakdown of international order must be debated openly and without evasion.
In her article published in The Indian Express, Gandhi said there is an urgent need for ‘us to rediscover’ the moral strength and articulate it with clarity and commitment.
‘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,’ Gandhi said.
Yet, beyond the shock of the event, what stands out equally starkly is New Delhi’s silence, she said.
The Government of India has refrained from condemning the assassination or the violation of Iranian sovereignty, she noted.
‘Initially, ignoring the massive US-Israeli onslaught, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) confined himself to condemning Iran’s retaliatory strike on the UAE without addressing the sequence of events that preceded it. Later, he uttered platitudes about his ‘deep concern’ and talked of ‘dialogue and diplomacy’ — which is precisely what was underway before the massive unprovoked attacks launched by Israel and the US,’ Gandhi said.
“When the targeted killing of a foreign leader draws no clear defence of sovereignty or international law from our country, and impartiality is abandoned, it raises serious doubts about the direction and credibility of our foreign policy. Silence, in this instance, is not… pic.twitter.com/LJECs5jPHR
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 3, 2026
‘When the targeted killing of a foreign leader draws no clear defence of sovereignty or international law from our country and impartiality is abandoned, it raises serious doubts about the direction and credibility of our foreign policy,’ Gandhi said in her article.
Sonia hits out at Modi for ‘endorsement of Israel’
Silence, in this instance, is not neutral, she asserted.
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 use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. A targeted killing of a serving head of state strikes at the 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 48 hours before the assassination, the Prime Minister returned from a visit to Israel, where he reiterated unequivocal support for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, even as the Gaza conflict continues to draw global outrage over the scale of civilian casualties, many of them women and children,’ 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 consequences of this event extend beyond geopolitics. The ripples of this tragedy are visible across continents. And India’s stance is signalling tacit endorsement of this tragedy,’ she claimed.
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.
