Mumbai: The Maharashtra Congress has demanded that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre must strongly condemn the Israeli attacks on the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem at the fag-end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, killing scores of Muslims and injuring many, here on Wednesday.
A delegation led by ex-minister and Working President Naseem Khan called on Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and submitted a memorandum to this effect.
“The Indian government must condemn these atrocities perpetrated by the Israeli armed forces and send a clear message that India stands firmly behind the Palestinians,” Khan said.
The delegation comprising ex-MP Ubaidullah K. Azmi, former legislator Yusuf Abrahani, Raza Academy convenor Saeed Noori, and others told the Governor that Indian Muslims were stunned to see the indiscriminate firing by Israeli soldiers on innocent children and women when they were praying at the Al Aqsa Mosque – considered the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
Comparing the attacks with Hitler’s “genocide of Jews”, the delegation said that it has sparked huge anger among the Indian and global Muslim brotherhood.
“We were planning to organise massive demonstrations against these cowardly attacks but exercised restrain in view of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions However, the Government of India should convey our sentiments to the people of Palestine by flaying Israel,” Khan urged.
Calling upon the Centre to end its silence since the country has always stood firmly behind Palestine, he said India’s message expressing solidarity with the Palestinians should be effectively conveyed to the whole world.
The meeting came in the wake of the Israeli air-raids in Tel Aviv’s Al Aqsa and Gaza in the past 48 hours which have killed more than two dozen Palestinians, leading to protests from all over the world.