Top Republican Senator John Cornyn expressed disappointment over India abstaining from the vote on a UNSC resolution against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, alleging that New Delhi has avoided publicly denouncing Moscow while it tries to balance its strategic relationship with Russia.
His remarks came a day after the 15-nation UN Security Council voted on the draft resolution on Friday afternoon by the US and its allies that would have deplored "in the strongest terms" Russia's "aggression" against Ukraine.
"Disappointing: India has avoided publicly denouncing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, as New Delhi tries to balance a strategic relationship with Moscow and its role in an emerging coalition of democracies," Cornyn said in a tweet on Saturday.
Such a comment by Cornyn, who is one of the top leaders of the Republican party, is considered to be significant given that he is co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, the only country-specific senatorial caucus. Cornyn, who represents Texas in the Senate, founded the Senate India Caucus along with the then Senator Hillary Clinton during the Bush administration.
Over the past few decades, Cornyn has emerged as a strong proponent of the India-US relationship. In the recent past, he has written to the administration on several issues like enhancing the defence relationship and has spoken against imposing Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) on India.
India, China and the UAE abstained from the vote on the UNSC resolution, which received 11 votes in favour. The resolution was blocked since permanent member Russia, also the President of the Security Council for the month of February, used its veto. Earlier, two other Congressmen spoke out against India's decision to abstain from the vote at the UNSC.
"In 1962, President Kennedy stood with India against China's invasion. It is the US, not Russia, that will stand with India against China's current expansionist plans," Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna had said in a tweet.
"This is the time for India to stand with the free word against Putin. Abstention is not acceptable," he said. "Disappointing," said Congressman Eric Swalwell. "Rep Ro Khanna and I represent the largest Indian-American districts and this vote is contrary to what we hear from our constituents. Indian-Americans believe in territorial integrity and human rights," Swalwell said.
PTI
