Opposition seeks debate on Iran war, hopes Centre prepared to handle after-effects

New Delhi: After the prime minister's speech in Parliament on the war in West Asia, its aftermath and India's diplomatic pitch for ending the conflict, the Opposition sought a House debate on the conflict and hoped the Centre would be prepared to deal with the domestic impact of war even as it again wondered why Modi didn't criticise Israel and the US for attacking Iran.

"He (PM) has made the country aware of the situation. There should now be a discussion on this in Parliament," Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra told journalists outside Parliament.

Maintaining that "the PM's invocation of the Covid-19 pandemic is concerning" and pointing out that the nation cannot forget the deeply depressing scenes which became all too normal during the pandemic, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh hoped for better preparation by the Centre in dealing with the current situation. "We can only hope there is more preparedness this time," he said.


Ramesh once again wondered why the PM's speech didn't contain criticism of the US-Israel attacks on Iran. "Not a single word was uttered (in the PM's speech) in condemnation of the continued US-Israeli air assaults on Iran. Iran's attack on the Gulf countries and the Strait of Hormuz is completely unacceptable but so is the relentless bombing of Iran with the objective of regime change and state collapse," he said.