Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has emerged as the Congress’s most powerful voice against Israel’s killing of Gaza civilians and the Narendra Modi government’s decision to abstain from voting on a UN resolution calling for a humanitarian truce.

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, said Mahatma Gandhi. I am shocked and ashamed that our country has abstained from voting for a ceasefire in Gaza,” Priyanka said on Saturday.

“Our country was founded on the principles of non-violence and truth, principles for which our freedom fighters laid down their lives. These principles form the basis of the Constitution that defines our nationhood.”

She added: “They represent the moral courage of India that guided its actions as a member of the international community. To refuse to take a stand and watch in silence as every law of humanity is pulverised; food, water, medical supplies, communication and power are cut off to millions of people; and thousands of men, women and children in Palestine are annihilated goes against everything our country has stood for throughout its life as a nation.”

While Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal has said that India’s attitude at the UN has been shameful, Priyanka has articulated the traditional Indian position with greater clarity and intensity than any other party leader.

The Congress’s initial reaction to the Israeli aggression was unusually subdued but it opened up as the enormity of the violence triggered protests across the world.

On Friday, Priyanka had said: “Violence and bloodbath have not stopped in Gaza even after the killing of 7,000 people. Among these 7,000 were 3,000 innocent children.

“There is no international law that hasn’t been crushed; there is no norm, no order that has not been violated. When will the collective conscience of humanity awaken, after how many more deaths?”

While 120 countries voted in favour of the UN resolution, 14 voted against it and 45 abstained.

India, which had carved a space for itself in the international community by acting as the voice of conscience under Jawaharlal Nehru, with successive Prime Ministers adhering to that path, has always championed Palestinian rights.

Modi had, however, initially expressed “solidarity” with Israel after the October 7 Hamas attacks. He later fine-tuned his government’s position by announcing more aid for Palestinians.

Venugopal has clarified the Congress’s stand on the government’s role at the UN by quoting anti-apartheid and human rights activist Desmond Tutu: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Venugopal added: “When the innocent citizens of Gaza are being pounded with airstrikes and ground invasions, it was India’s moral duty to support a ceasefire. Only a heartless and fascist regime would abstain. Truly ashamed of our vote at the UN.”

On October 9, the Congress Working Committee had struck a cautious note by expressing “dismay and anguish on the war that has broken out in the Middle East where over a thousand people have been killed in the last two days”.

It had added: “The CWC reiterates its longstanding support for the rights of the Palestinian people to land, self-government and to live with dignity and respect.”

It had called for negotiations on all outstanding matters, including the issues that had led to the present conflict.

But the sustained bombing on Gaza encouraged party leaders to open up.

On October 19, Rahul Gandhi said: “The killing of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, in Gaza and the collective punishment of millions of people by cutting off their food, water and electricity are crimes against humanity.” He added: “Hamas’s killing of innocent Israelis and taking of hostages is a crime and must also be condemned. The cycle of violence between Israel and Palestine must be brought to an end.”

The same day, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “The indiscriminate bombing on the hospital in Gaza and residential areas resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives of innocent men, women and children is both unjustifiable and a grave humanitarian tragedy for which the perpetrators must be held accountable.”