The Congress on Thursday organised an event in Kozhikode to express solidarity with the people of Palestine amid the Israel-Hamas war. The event was attended by senior Congress leaders including Shashi Tharoor and KC Venugopal.

“There is an accusation that Congress is not talking about the Israel-Palestine issue because Assembly elections are being held. I want to clarify that during the election campaign, Sonia Gandhi released an opinion piece on the Israel-Palestine war on October 30 and Priyanka Gandhi also spoke about the issue during the election campaign,” Tharoor said at the event.

“Modi government’s foreign policy is against the decade-old policy followed by India. UN General Assembly passed a resolution on the humanitarian truce in the Israel-Gaza war. Mahatma Gandhi’s country did not vote for it. We abstained from voting,” the Congress leader added.

“Our resolution says that we are with Palestine. We need to support the negotiations to free Palestine. India did not vote on the UN resolution for a truce that could lead to a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war,” Venugopal was quoted by ANI as saying.

According to a statement issued by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran, over 50,000 Congress workers participated in the rally.

“All secular, democratic believers will attend the Congress-led rally at Kozhikode beach on November 23,” Sudhakaran was quoted by PTI as saying.

The Congress rally comes days after the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) held a massive rally on November 11 in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Congress’s old ally Indian Union Muslim League also held a massive rally in Kozhikode. Tens of thousands of IUML supporters took part in the Palestine Solidarity Human Rights rally, inaugurated by IUML leader Panakkad Syed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal.

Tharoor, a member of the Congress Working Committee had also attended the rally. “This may well be one of the most significant political rallies we have seen in India and perhaps across the world in defence of human rights and in favour of peace. This is a rally for peace.”

However, he also condemned the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants that triggered war. “On October 7, terrorists attacked Israel and claimed 1,400 lives. Two hundred individuals were taken hostage. In response, Israel killed 6000 people. The bombing continues,” he said.