The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has fuelled war of words between the ruling party at centre BJP and Opposition led by Congress after the government’s abstention on the UN resolution on the West Asia disturbances.

Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday issued a statement that the grand old party is “strongly opposed” to India’s abstention on the recent UN resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict, asserting that while her party had unequivocally condemned Hamas’ attacks, the tragedy is compounded with the Israeli state now focused on exacting revenge from a population that is largely as helpless as it is blameless.

In a sharp attack against Sonia’s stand, the BJP accused the Congress of being driven by petty, vote-bank politics. Party spokesman and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said that there can be no politics on terrorism and international issues. “There should be no scope for ifs and buts on terrorism and India’s stand should be clear, categorical and unequivocal. When was the last time the senior most Congress leader wrote on an international conflict?. It is sad that the Congress policy is not in line with India’s prestige and dignity but is inspired by petty vote-bank politics. Whatever the Congress is doing is against India’s policy,” Trivedi said at a Press conference in BJP headquarters.

Even indirect support to terrorism is damaging to humanity and India’s security and interests, he said, criticising the Congress.

Noting that a Congress Working Committee resolution had made no mention of the Hamas attack, BJP wondered if the party’s tagline is “Judega Kattarpanthi, Jeetega Hamas” on the lines of “Judega Bharat, Jeetega India”, the catchphrase for the opposition’s INDIA bloc.

Trivedi said it was during the Rajiv Gandhi government’s time that the ground was laid for boosting diplomatic ties with Israel before the P V Narasimha Rao-led dispensation established full diplomatic relations between the two countries.