Congress lawmaker Priyanka Gandhi entered Parliament on Monday with a 'Palestine' tag on her handbag, capturing the attention of fellow Parliamentarians and television cameras.
It is seen as a move by the Congress MP to express solidarity with Palestinians amid the months-long military face-off with Israel.
Priyanka has been vociferous about the Israel-Gaza fight in recent past and termed Israeli actions in Gaza as "barbaric and inhuman."
New Delhi: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Parliament House during the Winter Session of the 18th Lok Sabha in New Delhi on Monday, December 16, 2024. (Photo: IANS/ Prem Nath Pandey)
As the photo of Priyanka Gandhi smiling and flaunting a bag that reads "Palestine" landed on social media, it ignited a storm of reactions from netizens with many expressing shock and surprise while others raised eyebrows over her espousal of the cause of Palestinians.
Priyanka's symbolic support for Palestine comes a day after her meeting with Palestine embassy charge d'affaires Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer. The Palestinian diplomat met Priyanka at her residence days ago, to congratulate her on Lok Sabha victory from Wayanad and also suggested a leadership role for India in reaching a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war.
Significantly, the Congress General Secretary has been critical of Israel's actions in Gaza and called its military offensive a violation of international law.
It is the moral responsibility of every right-thinking person, including all those Israeli citizens who do not believe in hatred and violence, and every government in the world to condemn the genocidal actions of the Israeli government and force them to stop," Gandhi had said on X in July.
In October last year, the Gaza-based Hamas operatives launched a major terror strike in Israeli territory, killing more than one thousand Israelis and taking away many more as captives. It was after this terror attack that Israeli forces launched a large-scale military operation and hit Hamas hard inside Palestine.
India strongly condemned the October 7, 2023 terror attack in Israel and also called for immediate release of Israeli civilians captured by Hamas.
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