“Issue is not whether India should be ‘for’ or ‘against’ Israel, the US, Iran, or the Gulf states in some emotional or ideological sense,” wrote Nirupama M Rao. India’s stance on the US-Israel attack on Iran, and the latter’s widening of the conflict to Arab countries and oil trade routes, need not be governed by “emotional” reasons, a top Indian ex-diplomat has said.
“The issue is not whether India should be ‘for’ or ‘against’ Israel, the United States, Iran, or the Gulf states in some emotional or ideological sense,” wrote Nirupama Menon Rao, former foreign secretary, on X. “The issue is whether any of these relationships, as they are currently conducted, advance India’s long-term interests without narrowing India’s strategic autonomy,” she argued.
Rao, who served as India’s envoy to the US, China and Sri Lanka during her career, opined that India’s strength has “always lain in balance — in keeping multiple relationships alive at once, in speaking across divides, and in refusing to let any one partnership become a trap”. She said that must not be seen as weakness: “It is the essence of serious statecraft for a country of India’s scale, geography, and civilizational depth.” About “recent years”, she said, the tone of the domestic discourse has changed.
Saying that’s where “the danger lies”, she further argued that admiration for Israeli military prowess cannot be seen as strategy. “It is emotional substitution… We cannot afford to inherit another country’s siege mentality as if it were our own doctrine.” “The real test for India is not whether it can applaud force. It is whether it can preserve room for manoeuvre, protect its energy and maritime interests, maintain credibility across West Asia, and keep its own voice. A country like India should not suffer from ‘Israel envy’. It should have the confidence to be itself. I am sure it can,” she said.
India has sought to project the image of an equidistant votary of peace in the US-Iran conflict, even as PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel just ahead of the war breakout on February 28 was seen by the Opposition as a tacit pre-backing of the US and Israel.
PM Modi visited Israel on February 25–26, meeting with PM Benjamin Netanyahu and addressing a special session of the Knesset in Jerusalem, where he declared, “India stands with Israel, firmly, with full conviction, in this moment, and beyond.” The US-Israeli military strikes on Iran commenced less than 48 hours after Modi departed Israel. Since the war began, New Delhi has issued no statement condemning the initial assault on Iran. In a call with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Modi said he “strongly condemned the attacks on the UAE and condoled the loss of lives”, though he did not name Iran — making it the first and, so far, only official Indian condemnation of any party in the conflict.
This week, PM Modi also spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, their first conversation since the war’s start. India’s official condemnation of the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameneni also came only on March 5, via the foreign secretary. On Friday, Union minister Giriraj Singh accused Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of “spreading confusion and misinformation” about LPG availability in the country as the West Asia war has hit vital supply routes.
Gandhi has alleged that India’s energy security had been “compromised” due to a “flawed” foreign policy and that the government had “bartered” to the US the right to determine relationships with different oil suppliers. Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said the war between the US and Israel, and Iran is going to have far-reaching consequences. The raging West Asia conflict has triggered an LPG crisis in India, with people having to stand in long queues for hours to buy cylinders.
With the conflict all but shutting Strait of Hormuz — the narrow sea lane between Iran and Oman through which India gets much of its import of crude oil and gas supplies — oil companies have prioritised supply to household kitchens while cutting back on commercial users like hotels and restaurants.
