Priyanka Gandhi Vadra makes a statement on Palestine in Parliament today

In a show of support for the people of embattled Palestine — where now 45,000 people have been killed in Israel's 'war on Hamas' — Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on 16 December, Monday, carried a bag to Parliament that made a loud and silent statement.

The Congress general secretary has been raising her voice against Israel's actions in Gaza and expressing solidarity with Palestinians for well over a year now.

Gandhi was seen wearing her heart on her shoulder, if not her sleeve, as she walked into the parliament building carrying a predominantly red, green and white tote, emblazoned with the word 'Palestine' and emblems of Palestinian solidarity — including a watermelon and a rectangle of what resembles a keffiyeh print.

On the other side of the red watermelon was a rectangle split in red and green, overlaid with an olive branch pattern. Beneath, in the opposite corner, a white dove holding another olive branch in its beak rose towards a golden orb.

Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer, charge d'affaires of the Palestine Embassy in New Delhi, had last week called on Gandhi to congratulate the Congress leader on her recent election victory from Kerala's Wayanad.

Gandhi Vadra has long been a vocal advocate for Palestine's sovereignty and an equally outspoken critic of Israel's genocidal actions in the region.

In June, Gandhi Vadra slammed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what she had said were Israel's "genocidal actions" in Gaza, accusing the Netanyahu government of "barbarism".

The Congress general secretary's remarks had come after Netanyahu defended Israel's ongoing war in Gaza in a speech to the US Congress.

Gandhi Vadra had said it was no longer enough to speak up for the civilians, mothers, fathers, doctors, nurses, aid workers, journalists, teachers, writers, poets, senior citizens and the thousands of innocent children who were being wiped out day after day by the "horrific genocide" taking place in Gaza.

'It is the moral responsibility of every right-thinking individual, including all those Israeli citizens who do not believe in hatred and violence, and every government in the world to condemn the Israeli government's genocidal actions and force them to stop,' she had said in a post on X.

Israel's actions are unacceptable in a world that professes civility and morality, Gandhi Vadra had said.

Today, the Congress MP was first seen with the tote amidst an Opposition demonstration outside the parliament building, calling for the Government of India to be more pro-active in demanding the safety and rights of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh.

In the context of minority rights and persecution of specific identities, that accessory today made a dual statement — and drew a subtle but emphatic comparison across the two contexts, that of Bangladesh and that of Palestine.

With PTI inputs