Palestinians: Our indifference

We must avoid the temptation to see Indian indifference to Palestine as usual "enemy's (Muslim) enemy (Jew) is my friend". Reason is the changed reality of Islamic world & India's equation with it

- SHEKHAR GUPTA

Why is there so little sympathy in India for the Gazans specifically and the Palestinians in general? Why are there no protests, barring some fleeting ones after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's killing, mostly in zones with significant Shia populations - the Kashmir Valley, and Lucknow?

No major political party - not even the Congress or even others who rely on the Muslim vote such as the Samajwadi Party or the Trinamool Congress - has spoken in anger, forget organising a protest. Some Left intellectual groups did hold a tiny solidarity meeting for Palestinians at Jantar Mantar earlier this week. But it was so small that I wouldn't even call it a picture postcard protest. It was tinier than the postage stamp.

The "secular" parties that spoke out initially retreated into their shells shortly thereafter, confused and I'd suspect more than a bit wary, given what looks like the overwhelming pro-Israel mood among the majority in India.

The Congress waffled, as it often does, when it said something on X first, then others disowned this and followed with something more diplomatically nuanced.

Only Priyanka Gandhi spoke in outrage. She also has to contest elections in Wayanad, where Muslims make up more than 40 per cent of the voters.

We can understand the wariness of the Opposition. They all want the Muslim vote, but wouldn't dare alienate the Hindus. Therefore, the larger question is: Why is the larger Indian public opinion so indifferent? Do human tragedies no longer move us? Or, like all great powers, have we also learnt to see all such situations through the prism of politics? Is it, then, just that the Hindus see this purely as an Israel-versus-Muslims issue? The argument could also be that it isn't seen only from a communal prism, but of the national interest.