Sonia Gandhi’s criticism of Government over Iran is misplaced

(The article was originally published in Indian Express on March 7, 2026 as a part of Dr Madhav’s column titled ‘Ram Rajya’. Views expressed are personal.)

Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi penned an article in these columns earlier this week criticising the Indian government for not condoling the death of the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Accusing that “impartiality is abandoned”, Sonia went on to question “the direction and credibility of our foreign policy”.

The Iran conflict needs to be viewed from the wider regional and geo-strategic context based on ground realities and empirical facts. In times of such conflicts, it is not enough to be neutral but should also be seen to be impartial. That’s why on two recent occasions – US’ attack on Venezuelan President Eduordo Maduro’s place in an overnight operation and his imprisonment in America, and the US’ attack on Iran leading to a large number of casualties including that of the supreme leader – Indian government toed the same line. It expressed “deep concern” on both occasions and called for “dialogue and diplomacy to be pursued to de-escalate tensions”. It urged “all sides” to “exercise restraint, avoid escalation and prioritise the safety of civilians”.

India and Iran share cordial relations at the government and people level. However, due protocols, geo-political realities and geo-strategic interests cannot be sacrificed at the altar of emotions and euphoria. Iran’s government follows a governance model unfamiliar to rest of the world. It is a unique model of theocracy following the 9^th Century practise called Wilayat-e-Faki. The 12^th Imam of Shia community, Imam Mahdi, disappeared in 869 AD leading to the birth of the Twelver Shia Tradition. According to this tradition Imam Mahdi had entered into “occultation” and continued to guide the community through four of his disciples. When those disciples died, there firmed up a belief among the Shias that Imam Mahdi was kept alive by God and would stage a comeback at God’s will. Until the Imam’s return, the community was to be led both spiritually and temporally by the system of Wilayat-e-Faki – guardianship of an Islamic jurist. After the Islamic revolution in 1979 in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini introduced the concept into the constitution of that country by declaring himself as the Wali-e-Faki – the guardian jurist. He ensured that all powers are concentrated in the hands of the supreme leader and the elected government remained subordinate to him. Khamenei succeeded him in that post after 1989.

Globally, this Iranian model remained an enigma, causing serious diplomatic disquiet. Sonia’s repeated reference to Khamenei as the “head of state” and insistence that he should be treated with such a protocol is an untenable argument given the opaqueness surrounding his status. Both the supreme leaders – Khomeini and Khamenei – never travelled outside Iran during their tenures as Wali-e-Faki. On the other hand, when the Iranian presidents visited other countries, they received ceremonials on par with a head of the state. All three presidents – Mohammad Khatami in 2003, Ahmadinejad in 2008 and Hassan Rouhani in 2018 – received ceremonial welcomes during their visits to India, which is a standard protocol for heads of state. That is the reason why India sent foreign secretary Vikram Misri to sign the condolence book conveying official sentiment of respect towards the departed supreme leader.

Sonia was right in highlighting that Iran didn’t support anti-India resolutions on Kashmir at the OIC and in fact blocked one such resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in 1994. Guided mostly by geopolitical and economic reasons, the Iranian government did not support Pakistan-sponsored resolutions and pitched instead for peaceful dialogue for resolution of Kashmir issue. However, Iranian government’s stand shouldn’t be confused with that of the supreme leader Khamenei. In the last ten years, Khamenei used several occasions to criticise Indian government on issues like Kashmir and the status of the Muslim community.

After the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K in August 2019, Khamenei took to Twitter saying that “We’re concerned about Muslims’ situation in #Kashmir… India should adopt a just policy and prevent oppression & bullying of Muslims in the region”. A year later, when protests broke out in Delhi on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act in March 2020, Khamenei again used a tweet to blame India for “massacre” of Muslims. “The hearts of Muslims all over the world are grieving over the massacre of Muslims in India… [India] should stop the massacre of Muslims”, he said. India should “confront extremist Hindus & their parties & stop the massacre of Muslims”, he added, threatening that failing in which would lead to “India’s isolation from the world of Islam”. In yet another tweet in 2024, Khamenei equated India with Gaza and Myanmar and said that “We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslim if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in #Myanmar, #Gaza, #India”.

India rightly deemed such unfriendly utterances to be an interference in its internal matters and called them “misinformed and unacceptable”.  The External Affairs Ministry deplored those remarks and bluntly told that “external actors must first look at their own records before commenting on India”. Unfortunately, controversies were not new to Khamenei. He accused Saudi Arabia of engaging in “genocide” in 2015, eliciting strong reaction from the Saudi government. Similarly, his repeated calls for “death to Israel” and “death to America” and the recent explanation that it meant “death to Trump” too elicited ridicule and contempt. Sadly, such utterances didn’t endear him to many. In the end, his death went without condolence from G-7 countries, several Islamic countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco and Indonesia, and many others.

In spite of such provocations, government of India always maintained cordial relations with government of Iran. When Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May 2024, India announced 1-day state mourning. Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a condolence message stating “Deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic demise of Dr. Seyed Ebrahim Raisi… India stands with Iran in this time of sorrow”.

Sonia’s criticism that Indian government had abandoned “our legacy” is clearly misplaced. At the most, her article reflects Congress Party’s traditional minority politics with an eye on upcoming elections.