Thousands of people across India took to the streets June 17 to demand an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its military aggression against Iran. The day was observed as the day of national solidarity with Palestine by the country’s left parties.
A central gathering was organized in the capital, New Delhi, where people carried banners and posters and shouted slogans in support of the Palestinian freedom struggle and condemned the over 20-months-long Israeli genocide in Gaza. They also denounced the Indian government’s failure to stand with the occupied people of Palestine and its reluctance to stand against the violations of the UN charter and international laws in Iran.
Protesters accused the Indian government of completely surrendering its independence before the imperialist duo of the US and Israel.
The nationwide protests were called jointly by all the major left parties in the country, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Block. Several student organizations such as Student Federation of India (SFI), All India Student Association (AISA), and others also participated.
Apart from New Delhi, simultaneous protest marches and meetings were held in Kolkata, Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, and several other cities across India. These meetings and marches were also attended by members of trade unions, artist collectives, and academia.
Speakers in the meetings across the country claimed that Israel’s genocide in Gaza is unprecedented in history. They claimed that all the western powers in Europe and the US are as much responsible for these criminal acts of deliberately massacring hundreds of thousands of innocent people as Israel. They expressed hope that all these criminal leaders will be held accountable for the same.
Speakers also sharply condemned the unprovoked Israeli attacks on Iran that began Friday, in which more than 300 Iranian civilians, leaders, and scientists have been killed. They called the aggression a blatant display of Israel’s impunity, upheld and promoted by the US. They demanded Israel end its war on Iran immediately and stop any further threats to global peace and stability.
India must end all military ties with Israel
Calling Israel a rogue state and the world’s biggest terrorist, M. A. Baby, general secretary of CPI (M), asked the Indian government to sever all its political and military ties with it. Baby described Israeli attacks on Gaza and Iran as unprovoked acts of aggression. He claimed that the motive behind these acts is the same, spreading terror and a cult of violence and destruction.
Baby demanded that India stop the supply of weapons to Israel and that defense collaboration between Indian and Israeli companies end immediately. He said the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Israeli aggression on Iran is unacceptable, asking him to speak up and articulate the collective voice of the Indian people which is against bullying, against war, and against imperialist aggressions.
D. Raja, general secretary of the CPI, claimed that the US is using Israel to maintain its hegemony in West Asia and India should never become an accessory of this relationship. He emphasized that India has always maintained solidarity with the oppressed and colonized people, and left parties will not allow the ultra-right-wing government in the country to betray that great legacy now.
Raja said India’s abstention during the vote on a ceasefire resolution in Gaza in the UN General Assembly earlier this month was a shameful act. He underlined that the Indian people want an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to all Israeli hostilities against Iran. No government should be allowed to misrepresent this clear position on the international forums because our leaders are cowards or calculative of the business interests of certain individuals, he alleged.
Several other speakers pointed out the growing influence of select businesses on the Modi government’s policies vis-a-vis Israel and the US and called it a grave betrayal of the Indian people.
