The Hyderabad MP later defended his remarks outside Parliament, saying he had not violated any provision of the Constitution.He said, “Other members are also saying different things… I said ‘Jai Bhim, Jai Telangana, Jai Palestine’. How is this wrong? Tell me the provision of the Constitution?”
and then he mentioned Mahatma Gandhi Defending his slogan, he said, “You should also listen to what other people say. I said what I had to say. Read what Mahatma Gandhi said about Palestine.”
Now India, in its official stand, has never taken any sides in the ongoing case. Israel–Palestine conflict and a two-state solution. In February, when asked about this, V Muraleedharan, then minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs, said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha: “India’s policy towards Palestine has been long-standing and consistent. We have supported a negotiated two-state solution leading to the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine within secure and recognised boundaries, living in peace with Israel.”
The Modi government has also reiterated this stance at several forums such as the United Nations, G-20 and BRICS amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in the region since October 7, 2023.
A controversy started over his slogan. Owaisi He asked people to read what Mahatma Gandhi wrote.
What did Mahatma Gandhi say on Palestine conflict?
In 1938 Mahatma Gandhi presented his views on the plight of the Jewish community in Germany. He advised the Jews to “choose the path of mastery”. Non-violence To vindicate our position on earth.” Gandhi also compared it to the Indian Satyagraha movement in South Africa, where Indians had conducted peaceful protests without the support of other nations.
He pointed out that Jews in Germany were in a better position because they received international support and attention for their cause. Gandhi believed that the Jewish community could effectively advocate for their rights and challenge their oppression through non-violent means because their struggle had global recognition.
Despite his deep sympathy for the Jews, he argued unabashedly that “Palestine belongs to the Arabs just as England belongs to the British or France to the French” and that it was wrong and inhuman to “impose the Jews” on the Arabs. Gandhi’s article was published in the weekly Harijan in November 1938, nearly 10 years before the Israel-Palestine conflict caused instability in West Asia.
The Times of India published an article titled “Mr Gandhi on the Jewish Problem” in its November 28, 1939 issue. Edited excerpts: On the Palestine issue Gandhi wrote that his sympathy for the Jews “does not blind him to the requirements of justice”. “Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs to the power to return Palestine to the Jews either partially or wholly as their national home. It is wrong to enter Palestine under the shadow of the British gun.”
He said, “There are hundreds of ways to reason with the Arabs, if they (the Jews) will abandon the help of the British bayonet.”
He wrote, “I have received many letters asking me to explain my views on the Arab-Jewish question in Palestine and the persecution of Jews in Germany. I venture to present my views on this very difficult question without hesitation.”
“My sympathies are entirely with the Jews. I have known them very well in South Africa. Some of them have become my lifelong companions. Through these friends I have learnt much about their centuries-old persecution. They have been the untouchables of Christianity. There is much in common between the treatment meted out to them by the Christians and the treatment meted out to the untouchables by the Hindus.”
Message to Jews: “What is happening in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code. The Mandate has no other sanction than the last war. Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs to shame in order that Palestine may be given back to the Jews either partially or wholly as their national home,” Gandhi stressed.
“The much better way would be to treat Jews fairly, no matter where they were born or raised. Jews born in France are French just as Christians born in France are French. If Jews have no home except Palestine, would they prefer the idea of being forced to leave the other parts of the world where they have settled? Or would they want a double home where they could live as they please? This cry for a national home provides a colourful justification for the German expulsion of the Jews,” he wrote.
“And now a word to the Jews living in Palestine. I have no doubt that they are proceeding in the wrong way. Palestine of the Biblical conception is not a geographical territory. It is in their hearts. But if they are to regard the Palestine of geography as their national home, it is wrong to enter it under the shadow of the British gun. No righteous work can be done with the aid of bayonets or bombs. They can settle in Palestine only with the goodwill of the Arabs. They should try to change the hearts of the Arabs. The same God rules the hearts of the Arabs who rules the hearts of the Jews…” Gandhi said.
