“The Indian government doesn’t want anyone to protest. The moment people come out on the streets, they are harassed and arrested which has created a climate of fear. This makes it difficult for people to protest; otherwise, public sentiment is with the people of Gaza,” development economist Jean Dreze told Frontline on the sidelines of a press conference in Delhi on August 1, on the supply of military materials to Israel by India. “Mainstream media coverage is lacking, and the BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanction) movement is weak in India, reflecting a larger problem of subdued protests,” he said. The meeting was addressed by a diverse panel comprising Dreze, Brinda Karat, Ashok Sharma, Siddharth Varadarajan, Prashant Bhushan, and Arundhati Roy.
At the press interaction, Dreze highlighted India’s growing strategic and defence ties with Israel. “India accounts for nearly half of Israeli defence exports, including surveillance technology and crowd control, described as the “technology of occupation” by Anthony Loewenstein in The Palestine Laboratory,” Dreze said. This includes exports to Israel and joint subsidised ventures under the Make in India programme, despite government denials in Parliament.
Also Read | Western views on Palestine conflict show old biases live on
Brinda Karat, former Rajya Sabha member from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), called for accountability for India’s support of Israeli military actions. “Our deep and abiding solidarity with Palestine demands we hold our government accountable for supporting these continuing barbaric horrors against the people of Palestine,” she said. Karat and other speakers demanded the immediate cancellation of licenses held by arms suppliers to Israel such as the government-subsidised Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India Ltd., halting Indian-made equipment exports used in the genocide, and ceasing imports of military and security equipment from Israel.
Karat criticised India’s compliance as “morally repugnant, ethically bankrupt, and unlawful,” citing the rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which declared Israel’s occupation as unlawful and prohibited assistance in maintaining this occupation. She noted that India is setting a troubling precedent by flagrantly violating these rulings. “India has joined the list of shame headed by the US and many Western countries directly involved in military supply to the Zionist state. This is shameful,” Karat said.
Abandoning pro-Palestine position
She questioned the “180-degree turn” from India’s traditionally pro-Palestine stance, noting the similarities between the ideologies of Hindutva and Zionism, and acknowledging that both advocate nationalism based on religion and involve identifying the “other” or the “enemy” in a way that demonises Muslims. Karat suggested this ideological shift has overridden traditional foreign policy.
She criticised the Sangh Parivar’s framing of the Palestinian freedom struggle as a religious war against Islamist jihadists rather than a liberation struggle against the US and Israeli aggression. This portrayal, she said, attempted to “eliminate a national conscience which otherwise would be on the streets of India, protesting against these horrors.” She said that it was a shame that due to the government policies, India is now seen as complicit in one of the worst horrors the world has witnessed. “It is up to us, the citizens of India, to reaffirm that we have been, are, and will always be on the side of the Palestinian struggle for freedom against illegal occupation,” said Karat.
Ashok Sharma, a former Indian Foreign Services officer rejected the argument that Israel’s support during the Kargil War justifies India’s current policies. “How can anyone compare what is happening in Gaza with the Kargil War? During the war, we were defending our territory and ousting intruders from our own land,” he remarked. Sharma also criticised the narrative linking pro-Palestine supporters to Hamas. “I don’t think anyone ever supported the action of Hamas on October 7 and 8, 2023, but the narrative falsely links Israel’s opposition being Hamas supporters,” he said. Sharma expressed concern with the way the genocide was used for political gains during the Indian election as well as the lack of coverage by the mainstream media in India.
Siddharth Vardarajan, founder-editor of The Wire, questioned whether India would be complicit or oppose the genocide. He said that while India often represents the Global South, it was South Africa that raised the case against Israel in the ICJ. “The ICJ’s interim judgement suggests that the actions of Israeli forces and political statements indicate a genocide,” said Vardarajan. He added, “Selling arms to a country killing thousands of civilians is the most sickening form of aid.” He urged the Defence Minister to justify the sale of arms to Israel in Parliament.
Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan labelled Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “disgusting genocide,” recognised so by the ICJ and the United Nations. He emphasised that India, as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, is bound by international law to prevent and punish acts of genocide. “India’s Supreme Court considers any international convention signed by India as part of Indian law,” Bhushan said adding that exporting arms to Israel violated international law and human rights.
Constitutional violations
He referred to Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to life and liberty for all people, not just Indian citizens. “If the government’s actions cause genocide in another country, it violates Article 21,” Bhushan said, asserting that officials involved should be held accountable. “India will not progress if it fails to comply with international law and aids genocide,” he said.
He criticised the government’s obscuring of arms export information and the suppression of protests in solidarity with Palestine. “If the ICJ says that the Israeli occupation in Palestine is illegal, why arrest people for raising the Palestinian flag?”
Also Read | Gaza war at tenuous crossroads as Israel spurns ceasefire efforts, risking regional escalation
Author Arundhati Roy said, “It is believed that the US could end the genocide with a phone call, but it is not so. Just Palestine is not occupied by Israel; the US is too.” Roy condemned American universities for their role in this genocide, calling them “little-city states, little empires investing in this genocide,” and noted the repression of student protests against Israel.
Roy emphasised the need for Indians to oppose the genocide, asserting, “We must show that we do not support Gaza’s murder or our government’s support of it.” She described the destruction in Gaza as an attempt to erase its memory by destroying universities, archives, and hospitals. She underscored the high number of journalist deaths, 116 killed, the highest since the WWII, as an attempt to silence reporting.
A memorandum outlining these concerns, signed by the speakers and other prominent personalities, has been submitted to the Ministry of Defence.
COMMents
SHARE