‘Did India know about the attack?’ Cong asks Modi govt on Iranian warship

The Congress on Thursday questioned whether the Narendra Modi government had prior knowledge of the attack that sank the Iranian warship Dena near Sri Lanka, with the party's media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera asking if India had failed either in intelligence or in protecting a vessel that had earlier visited the country as a guest.

Addressing a press briefing in New Delhi, Khera posed a series of questions to the government: “Did India know that the United States was going to carry out such an action in the Indian Ocean? If it knew, what did it do? And if it did not know, why did it not know?”

He said the incident raised serious questions about New Delhi’s claim of being the 'guardian of the Indian Ocean'.

Khera noted that the Iranian vessel had earlier participated in naval engagements involving India and argued that the government had failed to ensure the safety of a visiting ship. “When an Iranian ship came at our invitation as our guest, we could not protect it,” he said, adding that vessels participating in such exercises are often not armed.

“Yet that unarmed guest was torpedoed and sunk in the Indian Ocean,” he said, describing the development as deeply troubling for India’s maritime credibility.

Drawing a comparison with a previous maritime operation, Khera recalled that in 2018, a yacht carrying Dubai’s Princess Latifa had been intercepted in international waters off Goa. “At that time we claimed to be the guardians of the Indian Ocean,” he said, asking how such a claim could be sustained after the latest incident.

Invoking India’s civilisational ethos, Khera said the Congress had long spoken of the ideals of vasudhaiva kutumbakam (all the world is family) and atithi devo bhava (a guest is like God). He noted that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had referred to the principle in a recent statement and Sonia Gandhi had also written about it in an article.

“We speak of vasudhaiva kutumbakam and atithi devo bhava. Narendra Modi also frequently refers to these ideals, but there is not even a trace of them in his functioning and foreign policy,” Khera said.

Referring to another Sanskrit phrase, he added: “Maunam swikriti lakshanam — silence signifies consent. In the prime minister’s silence, a lot can be heard, and the entire world is astonished by it. Today the prime minister’s criminal silence is emerging as a blot on the country and its legacy.”

The Congress leader also questioned India’s diplomatic posture amid the escalating conflict in West Asia. He accused PM Modi of remaining silent on what he described as an illegal war and the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“Narendra Modi is silent on the killing of Khamenei and on an unlawful war,” he said, adding that the government had undermined the rules-based international order that India had historically championed.

Khera warned that the broader regional crisis was already affecting Indian interests, pointing to Iran’s reported decision to close the Strait of Hormuz to several countries.

According to him, around Rs 10,000 crore worth of Indian cargo, 38 ships and nearly 1,100 sailors were currently stranded because of the closure. He said the Indian National Shipowners’ Association had sought assistance from the government but that New Delhi had limited diplomatic leverage as it had “closed all channels of dialogue with Iran”.

He cautioned that the disruption could have serious economic consequences for India, noting that key supplies such as LPG and LNG pass through the strategic waterway. “The effects of the conflict in West Asia will be felt across sectors including fertilisers, transport, mining, railways, power and agriculture,” Khera said. “The inflation and slowdown that may follow are difficult to even imagine.”

Khera also criticised Modi’s foreign policy approach, referring to the prime minister’s visit to Israel and claiming that many countries of the Global South were distancing themselves from the Israeli government amid the ongoing conflict. “Today, many countries do not want to be seen near Israel, but Narendra Modi happily went there,” he said.

The Congress leader further alleged that dissent over the war was being suppressed within India. “People cannot even express anger or mourn. FIRs are being filed against those who speak out,” he said.

He claimed the government’s actions had weakened democratic norms in the country and ended his remarks with a sharp attack on the prime minister’s leadership and foreign policy choices.