The Congress on Saturday criticised the government for not participating in the discussions on the SCO statement against Israel and asked if it had been reduced to being an “abject apologist for Israel”.
The statement by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation dated June 14 “strongly condemned the military strikes carried out by Israel on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran on June 13”.
On Friday, India had urged both countries to avoid any escalatory steps and said it was “deeply concerned” at the recent developments.
After the SCO statement, India asserted that its position on the Israel-Iran situation remains as stated earlier and urged the international community to utilise channels of dialogue and diplomacy towards de-escalation.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India had communicated its position to other SCO members and did not participate in the discussions on the statement.
Reacting to it, Congress General Secretary, Communications, Jairam Ramesh said: “What does this MEA statement really mean? It seems to suggest that Israel can attack Iran but that Iran should exercise restraint and not climb the escalatory ladder.
“Have we been reduced to being an abject apologist for Israel?”
“We cannot even condemn Israel’s attacks on and targeted assassinations in Iran?” he said in a post on X.
Earlier, in another post, Ramesh said, “Mr. Narendra Modi goes out of his way to appease his close friend Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spearheaded genocide in Gaza and launched an air war on Iran to effect regime change.”
“Yet, Israel puts out a map showing J&K as part of Pakistan and the Northeast as part of Nepal. And there is no rebuke from the Prime Minister of India – or any of his senior colleagues,” he claimed.
The statement by SCO said, “The member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) express serious concern over the escalating tensions in the Middle East and strongly condemn the military strikes carried out by Israel on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran on June 13.”
China currently holds the chairmanship of the SCO. The influential economic and security bloc’s members include Russia, India and Pakistan.
“The SCO has issued a statement on recent developments between Israel and Iran. India’s own position on the matter had been articulated by us on 13 June 2025, and remains the same,” the MEA said in a statement.
The MEA further said the “overall position of India as stated above was communicated to other SCO members”.
“Keeping that in mind, India did not participate in the discussions on the above-mentioned SCO statement,” it added.
Iran had in July 2023 become a permanent member of the SCO at an India-hosted virtual summit of the grouping
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