Indian MLAs Cancel US Trip In Protest Against Its Stand On Israel’s Gaza Assault: Report

New Delhi, Aug 3, IRNA – In protest against USˈs insensitive stand on Israeli assault on Gaza, Indian MLAs of at least four political parties have cancelled their trip to the US. After MLAs of Left parties, Congress and Indian Union Muslim League legislators in Kerala have also cancelled their trip to the US to take part in the ˈInternational Visitor Leadership Programmeˈ, in protest against the American stand on Israelˈs assault on Gaza. Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) and Communist Party (CPI) had earlier restrained their MLAs who have been selected for the trip. ˈWe have decided to give up the trip as it is very distressing for us to visit America at a time when unpleasant things are happening in Gaza,ˈ pti quoted N Shamsuddin, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MLA from Mannarghat, told in Thiruvananthapuram, capital city of Kerala state. His party colleague K M Shaji, who also has received the invitation, would not be going and the decision had been approved by the party leadership. Congress MLA P C Vishnunath said he and four other party MLAs who had received the invitation had given up the trip in view of the Gaza situation. CPI(M)ˈs TV Rajesh, LDF independent KT Jaleel and ES Bijimol of CPI were among seven MLAs from the state who had received invitation to attend the 21-day programme being organised by the US Government early next month. The Left leadership restrained their MLAs from attending the programme as it was part of Americaˈs designs to bring young leaders from Third World countries under its influence, according to Rajesh. Endorsing his partyˈs stand, Rajesh said his party had its own stand on the issue and their back out was also a mark of protest to various policies of the US Government including its ˈinsensitiveˈ stand on the Israeli attack on Palestinians in Gaza. Except Indian Government on its part, Opposition parties MP and MLAs have not only condemned in strongest term the Israeli crimes against humanity in Gaza, but have also castigated their government as well as the international community over their silence. India’s External Affairs Minister, Shushma Swaraj on July 21, in Rajya Sabha, while replying to the dabate on Israeli attacks on Gaza, declared that there is no change in Government’s policy on Palestine. Asserting that Indiaˈs policy on Palestine issue remains unchanged, government refused to take sides over the Gaza conflict as it said Israel and Palestine should have peace talks. Beside MPs and MLAs, Indian people, irrespective of age, gender and religion, expressed their outrage, across the country, over continued Israeli aggression in Gaza. India has always been standing behind the Palestinian people. India has traditionally been supporting the Palestinian people. Right from the time of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi had said: “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs... Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home”. In 1947, India voted against the partition of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly. India was the first Non-Arab State to recognize PLO as sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in 1974. India was one of the first countries to recognize the State of Palestine in 1988. In 1996, India opened its Representative Office to the Palestine Authority in Gaza, which later was shifted to Ramallah in 2003. India always played a proactive role in garnering support for the Palestinian cause in multilateral fora. Despite these facts, the present BJP Government is reluctant to condemned the Israeli assaults on Gaza. The Gaza Strip is the most populated area in the Earth located in 360 sq. KMs radius with 1.8 million people. As reported, Israeli aggression, which began on July 8, has claimed lives of more than 1500 innocent Palestinians, including women, children and elderly. While 8,900 Palestinians have been injured so far. The Palestinian toll in the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has surpassed that of Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 as the conflict entered its 26th day Saturday. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, 1,417 Palestinians were killed during Operation Cast Lead, which was the longest conflict between the two sides lasting 22 days, before the current fighting began. The brutal act of Israel cannot be called war, as it was the clear-cut act of genociding Palestinian people./end