New Delhi: The Congress on Friday demanded a full-fledged short-duration discussion in Parliament on the rapidly-escalating situation in West Asia.
The grand old party asserted that a simple suo motu statement by the government wouldn’t suffice once the Budget session’s second phase gets underway next week.
Speaking to PTI, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh criticised the Narendra Modi government, claiming it stands “shrunken and diminished” today, with India’s global standing “never being as weak as it is now.”
He accused New Delhi of playing “second fiddle” not only to the US but even to Israel.
Using a cricketing analogy, Ramesh remarked, “The Modi government has been on a sticky wicket for a long time with googlies being bowled from Washington.
He cited instances like President Donald Trump’s abrupt halt to Operation Sindoor on May 10 last year, and over 100 subsequent pressures.
The Budget session’s second half begins on March 9 and continues till April 2 — a 25-day period reduced to just 17 sittings due to festivals and holidays. The packed agenda covers the Appropriations Bill, Finance Bill passage, and reviews of four to five ministries’ functioning, leaving limited space for other debates.
Yet, Ramesh stressed on urgent topics like the Indo-US trade deal, ongoing US “blackmail” over India’s Russian oil imports — including a fresh 30-day waiver from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — and the West Asia turmoil.
Crisis in the Gulf region intensified after the US and Israeli launched joint strikes on Tehran on February 28, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with numerous political and military leaders.
Iran responded with waves of attacks on Israel and US military bases across Gulf nations, including the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Oman. An American submarine even torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in international waters on Indian Ocean, off Sri Lanka’s coast.
“There are almost 10 million Indians who work in this region, whose lives, livelihoods, safety, security are affected. So, it’s a very important economic issue. We get about 50-60 billion dollars of remittances every year from this region, if not more,” Ramesh said.
He demanded “a full-fledged short duration discussion on the West Asia situation caused by the aggression of the US and Israel on Iran and the subsequent attacks by Iran on Gulf countries, the activities of the US navy in the Indian Ocean,” dismissing a one-way government statement as pointless since it bars questions.
Ramesh slammed US phrasing on the oil waiver as treating India like a “supplicant” granted a favour. Highlighting PM Modi’s silence on key issues like Israeli-US assassinations of Iranian leaders, Trump’s Operation Sindoor claims and pressure to cut Russian oil, Ramesh noted, “the PM who spares no effort to defame opposition leaders, when it comes to President Trump’s actions or Israel’s actions, is completely silent.”
The Congress leader recalled how Indira Gandhi stood firm against Nixon Kissinger insults and threats, and “standing tall”.
“So I am afraid India’s global standing has never been as weak as it is (now). This is not the India that the world knows,” Ramesh concluded.
