4 min readNew DelhiMar 1, 2026 09:54 PM IST
First published on: Mar 1, 2026 at 09:54 PM IST
After the Iranian state media on Sunday confirmed that the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in Israeli air strikes, the Opposition targeted the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of “betraying Iran to please Western powers that once thirsted for India’s “blood”. Opposition leaders claimed that the country had never “looked so weak” before.#
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the “targeted assassination of the leadership of a sovereign nation by the so-called leaders of the democratic world, and the killing of multitudes of innocent people, is despicable and deserves strong condemnation, no matter what the proclaimed reason for it is”. “It is tragic that multiple nations have now been dragged into conflict,” she posted on X, adding that “the world needs peace, not more unnecessary wars”.
“I do hope that, having genuflected before the Prime Minister of Israel and President Trump, our Prime Minister makes every effort to bring all Indian citizens in the affected countries back home to safety. Those in charge would do well to remember Mahatma Gandhi’s words: ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’,” Vadra said.
Congress media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera said the “silence of the Modi government” on the assassination of Khamenei and other Iranian leaders “demonstrates its abdication of moral leadership and its reluctance to say anything remotely critical of the US and Israel. “It is a complete betrayal of all that India has stood for. India has never before looked this weak,” he posted on X.
During its tenure, Congress governments maintained support for the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which is still the official position of the government though the Narendra Modi government has increasingly aligned its interests with Israel. Party leaders said India has never supported “regime change by force or coercion”.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said that if forcible “regime change” becomes normalised, “total global disorder may be the result”. “In a multipolar world, rival powers will invoke the same logic. Intervention will result in counter-intervention. Where does it end? India’s sovereignty, particularly in so-called ‘disputed regions’, could be at risk,” she told reporters.
CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby said the “murder” of Khamenei and other top officials by the “imperialist United States and Zionist Israel, in violation of Iran’s national sovereignty and international law, is utterly reprehensible and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms”.
“When world peace is under threat, India should play a lead role in rallying all democratic voices so that there is a cessation of violent attacks and countermeasures,” he posted on X.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said she wants India “to stand strong and lead the world with clarity, coming not just from what is morally right but also from what the intent of the UN had started off with”.
“The minute India abdicates that stance to fit into a motivated narrative, we fail at the strategic autonomy our MEA has been talking about. Remember, if we stand for nothing, we will fall for anything,” she told the media.
In the past too, the Opposition has criticised the Modi government’s foreign policy, arguing that headline-grabbing diplomacy has not translated into tangible strategic gains. They contend that high-profile engagements and slogans such as “Operation Sindoor”, the ceasefire understandings at the time, and ambitious trade deal announcements have created optics without consistent follow-through, particularly on sensitive issues. Opposition leaders say New Delhi’s shifting stance in multilateral forums and its balancing act between Western partners and West Asian countries have sent mixed signals, weakening India’s traditional image as a principled voice of the Global South.