Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the deaths of three Indian seafarers in a US military strike on a commercial vessel, saying a "compromised PM" could not protect the sons of 'Mother India' as he lacked both the courage and the strength to anger those who took away their lives.
In a post in Hindi on X, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha questioned Prime Minister Modi's silence on the issue.
"Three Indians have been killed in US attacks on three ships in international waters within three days. And our Compromised PM... Not a single word. When any foreign power murders an Indian, the prime minister has to speak up."
"But he can never utter even one word. Next week at the G7, just days after the murder of our sailors, Modi ji will smile, embrace, and sign agreements -- but for those three Indians, he won't have a word to spare," the former Congress chief said.
"A Compromised PM cannot protect the sons of Mother India, because he lacks either the courage or the strength to confront those who took the lives of those sons," Gandhi said.
The Congress on Thursday condemned America's "reckless military actions" and demanded that the government take all necessary diplomatic measures to establish accountability.
The opposition party also asserted that Modi, who has repeatedly showcased his personal rapport with President Donald Trump as a diplomatic achievement, cannot evade responsibility when that relationship fails to protect Indian lives and interests.
India on Thursday said three merchant ships with Indian crew members came under attack from American military off the coast of Oman in the last four days, resulting in the death of three nationals, and it has lodged a strong protest with the US over the strikes.
It was New Delhi's first public acknowledgement that the US Navy targeted the three ships with Indian crew members. New Delhi asserted that these attacks must stop.
A Palau-flagged oil tanker, Marivex, carrying 24 Indian seafarers, was disabled by US forces on June 8. All crew members were safely rescued.
On June 10, the US struck another Palau-flagged tanker, Settebello, killing three out of the 24 Indian sailors on board.
Another vessel, Jalveer, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker with 20 Indians, was attacked on Thursday.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a news briefing that the three separate strikes on Settebello, Marivex and Jalveer "came from the US Navy".
In a social media post, the US Central Command said Jalveer was "disabled" as a combat aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into the vessel's engine room after the crew "repeatedly failed to comply with directions from US forces".
It said that Jalveer "violated the blockade against Iran by attempting to transport Iranian oil".
Following the attack on Settebello on Wednesday that killed three Indians, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned US Charge d'Affaires Jason Meeks and he was handed a demarche or diplomatic note of protest.
Jaiswal emphasised that these attacks "must stop".