New Delhi [India], June 14 (ANI): Congress leader Pawan Khera slammed the Union Government over India's stance of abstaining during voting at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) over the ceasefire in Gaza.

He termed it as an act of 'shameful betrayal' of the country's 'anti-colonial legacy'.

On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a permanent resolution demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

https://x.com/Pawankhera/status/1933751477152915852

In a detailed 'X' post, Pawan Khera highlighted India's history of standing with Palestine and the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Khera stated that India became the first non arab nation to recognise Palestine in 1974 and invited PLO leader Yasser Arafat to attend the 7th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit held in New Delhi in 1983.

Pawan Khera criticised the Union Government and mentioned that it 'grovels' before Tel Aviv in the present time, forgetting its principles that once made the country a moral compass of the world.

He further accused the Union Government of taking a 'U-Turn' from India's December 2024 UNGA vote in favour of the Gaza ceasefire, which has proved that the government remembers 'nothing'.

Pawan Khera also highlighted a BJP MP's 'theatrics of glorifying India's support of Palestine' exposes the abstention as an 'epitome of hypocrisy and this government's schizophrenic foreign policy.'

The Congress leader further mentioned that global leadership cannot be built on 'silence' and 'sycophancy'. He said that India's strength has always been from the moral weight of its choice, and if the country refuses to defend innocent lives overseas, then it also impacts moral capital, which protects Indian lives abroad.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pawan Khera said that his complicity has 'abandoned India's conscience' as Israel continues to bomb Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and now Iran.

He also stated that the world never listens to a nation which speaks loudly but to a nation that speaks with clarity, courage and conscience.

A total of 149 countries voted in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza in the UNGA; meanwhile, 19 countries abstained and 12 nations voted against the resolution. (ANI)