Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Thursday slammed the Centre’s stance on the ongoing West Asia conflict, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains “maun” (silent) when he should speak out but delivers long speeches when it is not required.
Addressing a press conference, Sibal said past Indian prime ministers had spoken out at crucial moments to uphold the country’s values. He cited examples of Jawaharlal Nehru, P. V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh.
"History teaches us a lot of things. In 1953, it was Pandit Nehru who opposed the occupation of Russian forces in Iran and said that the rights of the Iranian people must be respected and the forces must move out.
That's the courage of a PM who was close to Russia and yet made that statement," Sibal said.
He also referred to a diplomatic effort during Rao’s tenure in 1994.
"In 1994, it was P V Narasimha Rao who sent Dinesh Singh to Iran to persuade Ali Khamenei to not support a resolution on Kashmir that Pakistan wanted to move in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which was eventually not moved. That is what a strong PM does," the former Union minister said.
Sibal further recalled an episode during Singh’s tenure relating to a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"In 2006, the US wanted India to support the resolution in the IAEA for curtailing the rights of the Iranian people.
The US said 'if you don't do that, the nuclear deal will be in jeopardy'.
But (then) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said 'nothing doing, we will not be guided by someone else's interest, we will be guided by our own interest'," he said.
Sibal said that those prime ministers spoke when necessary and remained silent when it was not required.
"These were the PMs who spoke when there was a need to speak and remained silent when it was not necessary to speak," he said.
"Our PM doesn't speak when it is needed and speaks when it is not required, that is his trait," the independent Rajya Sabha MP added.
Attacking the government over the sinking of an Iranian warship by a US submarine in international waters off Sri Lanka, Sibal questioned India’s silence.
"While attacking the government over the US submarine sinking an Iranian warship in international waters off Sri Lanka's coast, Sibal said they were defenceless and so many people were killed.
We haven't spoke a word. The PM is quiet.
In Gaza, 72,000 people died, girls were killed in an Iran school, and all we say is that we have nothing to say. Isn't this sad for a great country like ours, mother of democracy," he said.
"We cannot orphan our democracy, we have always stood for values. Diplomacy operates at two levels, morality and self interest. And sometimes value system is more important than self interest," he added.
Sibal also compared Modi’s approach with that of US President Donald Trump.
"Sibal said US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Modi have one thing in common, the American leader announced going to war on social media without consulting the US Congress and similarly the PM doesn't discusses such things in Parliament."
(With inputs from PTI)