Resolution adopted

by the Congress Working Committee on April 10, 2026, at New Delhi

The Indian National Congress welcomes the ceasefire as a vital step towards deescalation, renewed diplomacy and constructive dialogue, and ultimately lasting peace in West Asia. Targeted assassinations of heads of state, waging war outside international law, and attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are unconscionable crimes against both humanity and a rules-based world order. Any meaningful resolution must be anchored in the principles of the Geneva Conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Charter—particularly the prohibition on the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State (Article 2 4) and the peaceful settlement of disputes (Article 2 3).

Successive governments since 1947 have upheld these global principles, drawing on a foreign policy tradition rooted in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (“the world is one family”), Mahatma Gandhi’s doctrine of Ahimsa (non-violence), and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s policy of non-alignment. This commitment is also enshrined in Article 51 of the Constitution, which calls for respect for international law and treaty obligations. In keeping with this legacy, India has consistently and constructively intervened against apartheid in South Africa, in the Korean War through the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission, in its support for anti-colonial movements across Asia and Africa, as a principled voice of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Global South, reflected in sustained diplomatic efforts to resolve conflicts in numerous conflicts such as Hungary, Egypt, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan etc., and from its contributions to humanitarian relief and United Nations peacekeeping operations.

This pause also provides an opportunity to assess the costs for India. In the recent past, India’s energy security has been undermined, our ties across our extended strategic neighbourhood have been strained, our role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region has weakened, and our moral leadership within the Global South has eroded. These have also translated into tangible consequences for our fellow citizens—shortages of essential commodities such as cooking gas and fertilisers, uncertainty for the Indian diaspora in West Asia, and heightened vulnerabilities arising from an altered strategic landscape. Unfortunately, the geo-economic and geo-political repercussions of this new strategic reality risk further escalation.

Prime Minister Modi’s visit on the eve of war created the perception of a political endorsement of military escalation, and of an incumbent far-right government on the eve of national elections. Both incidents underscored the inherent risks in the conflation of diplomatic engagement with electoral politics, and the fundamental principle that relationships are between nations, not between individual leaders or ideologically aligned political parties. Equally worryingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s myopic, xenophobic and unprincipled internationalism has not only alienated India from its neighbours, but also undermined decades of painstaking efforts by successive Indian governments to diplomatically isolate Pakistan. By ceding strategic and diplomatic space, the BJP government has handed Pakistan the room to rehabilitate its global image, and whitewash its track record of fomenting regional instability through support for crossborder terrorism targeting India, Afghanistan, and Iran. The government’s incompetence has allowed Pakistan to claim a pivotal role in the great-power competition in Asia, which will also give it leverage over India on crucial bilateral matters through third-parties, effectively internationalising India-Pakistan matters.

Given the unprecedented poly crisis we face, the BJP government must stop subordinating the national interest to electoral and ideological considerations, and disregarding the counsel of India’s foreign policy establishment. Instead, the BJP government must take the Opposition into confidence, urgently recalibrate and adopt a unified national approach to restore India’s historic role as a principled, proactive, and credible voice for peace and a just international order.