PM Modi must speak up on killing of Iran’s supreme leader, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “must speak up” on the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 1 in a joint United States-Israeli military operation.

In a social media post, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha highlighted that the escalating hostilities between the US, Israel and Iran were “pushing a fragile region towards wider conflict” and that crores of people, including Indians, faced uncertainty.

“While security concerns are real, attacks that violate sovereignty will only worsen the crisis,” Gandhi said. He said that unilateral attacks on Iran, as well as Iran’s attacks on other countries in West Asia, had to be condemned.

“India must be morally clear,” Gandhi said. “We should have the courage to speak plainly in defence of international law and human lives.”

He asserted that India’s silence at this stage diminishes its standing in the world.

“PM Modi must speak up,” the Congress leader said in the social media post. “Does he support the assassination of a head of state as a way to define the world order?”

In a similar vein, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday said the government’s silence on Khamenei’s killing was not neutral but amounted to abdication.

Writing for The Indian Express on Monday, she said the assassination of a sitting head...

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