New Delhi, March 9 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's statement in the Rajya Sabha regarding developments in West Asia "rings hollow and evasive," CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar said on Monday.
The CPI leader, in a statement, said it read "less like a serious diplomatic assessment and more like a routine note assembled by an intern from 10 minutes of Google search."
He added, "At a time when the region has been thrown into turmoil by the US-Israel attack on Iran and the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Indian government could not even bring itself to mention the assassination, let alone express condolences for the killing of the head of a friendly sovereign state."
Kumar said Jaishankar's statement "offered little" on the issue of Indians living and working across the Gulf region.
"Equally conspicuous was the absence of any reference to the sinking of the Iranian naval ship IRIS Dena by a US submarine in the Indian Ocean, which resulted in dozens of deaths and occurred while the vessel was returning from an Indian-hosted naval exercise," he said.
He said the government has failed to "defend or even condemn" the killing of sailors from a country that had just participated as a guest of the Indian Navy, in waters where India repeatedly claims to be the net security provider.
Kumar said Jaishankar failed to give any meaningful explanation of how the escalation may affect our economy, energy security, trade flows, or the safety of Indian workers whose livelihoods depend on stability in the Gulf.
"LPG prices are already rising and oil markets are volatile, yet the government chose to offer platitudes instead of policy clarity," he said.
The Left leader alleged that the current Indian dispensation capitulated to the very country it claims to be friends with.
"The whole world has witnessed the humiliating spectacle of India being treated dismissively by the very powers this government seeks to appease, with one leader publicly 'permitting' India to buy Russian oil and Netanyahu using the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to cover up preparations for an attack on Iran that has destabilised the region," he said.
Kumar accused the ruling BJP of "willing to stoop to a new low" and use the floor of Parliament to "mislead" people.
On Monday, making a suo motu statement in Parliament, Jaishankar said New Delhi stood for maintaining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states in the region. He defended allowing the Iranian ship to dock at an Indian port as the right decision taken on humanitarian grounds.
He said the Indian government has been constantly monitoring the situation in the region and has already brought back 67,000 stranded Indians from the conflict zone.
Jaishankar said the safety of Indian nationals and national interests, such as energy security and trade, remain the topmost priority for the government.
The US and Israel launched a major military attack on Iran on February 28, and killed its 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The war has so far killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, 397 in Lebanon, and 11 in Israel, according to officials.
