Needed to face up, not stand apart: Oppn leaders flay govt over stand on UNSC decision on Ukraine

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Several opposition leaders criticised the federal government on Saturday after India abstained from voting on a UN Security Council decision on the Russian assault on Ukraine, saying it wanted to face up in opposition to the mistaken and never stand apart.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari mentioned “there comes a time when nations need to stand up and not stand aside”. 

“I sincerely wish India had voted in solidarity with the people of Ukraine at UNSC who are facing an unprecedented and unjustified aggression. ‘Friends’ need to be told when they are wrong,” he mentioned.

Echoing his view, Congress chief Shashi Tharoor mentioned in an article: “Invasion is Invasion; we should tell our friend Russia.” “If ‘friends’ can’t speak honestly to each other, what is the friendship worth,” Tharoor requested.

“India’s decision to abstain in the United Nations Security Council vote on Friday night, on a resolution that would have deplored Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, did not really come as a surprise,” the previous Minister of State for External Affairs mentioned.

Tharoor additionally mentioned, “After our abstention, many regretted that India had placed itself on the ‘wrong side of history’.”

Shiv Sena chief Priyanka Chaturvedi accused the federal government of hypocrisy and mentioned, “Interestingly those who can’t stop abusing and criticising India’s first PM, Nehru, are using the non-alignment policy to justify their position in the UN.”

“Abstain from voting against a war doesn’t make your relationship better but makes your principles weaker against violence and human rights violations,” the Rajya Sabha member mentioned.

“Tomorrow it could be us not getting support against China. Today we stood on the same side as China, that speaks loads about our foreign policy.”

“Having said that, besides a resolution condemning Russia’s action, what is the UN’s role going to be to help Ukraine on ground? Ally countries are expressing words of support but have left Ukraine alone to defend and fight for itself. The UN will need to relook at its relevance in the New World Order,” Chaturvedi mentioned.

Russia used its veto energy to dam the US-sponsored decision that sought to deplore within the “strongest terms” Russia’s “aggression” in opposition to Ukraine.

In the 15-member UN Security Council, the decision obtained 11 votes in favour of it, Russia opposed it and India, China and the United Arab Emirates abstained from the voting.

By abstaining from voting on the decision, India retained the choice of reaching out to all related events to discover a center floor and foster dialogue and diplomacy to defuse the disaster, official sources mentioned on Saturday.

Though India abstained from voting on the decision, it referred to as for respecting “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of States and sought quick cessation of “violence and hostilities”, in feedback that the sources mentioned mirrored a “sharper tone” and criticism of the Russian offensive.