Why an Indian lawmaker’s ‘Palestine bag’ riled the Hindu rightwing

India’s Congress party leader Priyanka Gandhi left leaders of the Hindu nationalist BJP griping about “Muslim appeasement” when she walked into parliament on December 16 with a Palestine-themed handbag slung over her shoulder.

Along with the word “Palestine” written in capital letters, the tote bag had images of watermelon and dove, symbols of Palestinian solidarity and peace, respectively.

A daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of India’s prime ministers, Gandhi currently serves as secretary general of the secular Congress party, which has ruled India for the most part of its existence since 1947.

She has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “barbarism” in Tel Aviv’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians in the last 14 months.

“It is the moral responsibility of every right-thinking individual, including all those Israeli citizens who do not believe in hatred and violence, and every government in the world to condemn the Israeli government’s genocidal actions and force them to stop,” she said in July.

Gandhi’s pro-Palestine stance puts her at odds with India’s recent shift towards stronger support for Israel under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had unequivocally condemned the October 7 incursion by Hamas last year.

In a policy U-turn on October 7, 2023, the Indian prime minister sent out a tweet labelling Hamas as “terrorists”. Modi designated the Palestinian resistance group as a terrorist organisation at once, marking a broader change in India’s foreign policy on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Since 2014, when he came to power, Modi has nudged New Delhi closer to Israel, emphasising defence cooperation, counter-terrorism and economic ties.

Tel Aviv is the second-largest supplier of military equipment to India. Around 42.1 percent of all Israeli arms exports have gone to India since 2014, the year Modi came to power.

The relationship between Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been notably warm, with the Hindu nationalist PM referring to Netanyahu as a “dear friend.”

Responding to Gandhi’s act of support for Palestine, ruling BJP party leader Sambit Patra said the Gandhi family had “always been carrying the bag of appeasement”.

Another BJP leader called Gandhi’s Congress party “the new Muslim League.” “Sporting a bag in support of Palestine in parliament is crass communal posturing,” he said.

Gandhi dismissed criticism of her pro-Palestine gesture, saying no one had the right to tell her what to wear.

“Who is going to decide what clothes I am going to wear? This is typical patriarchy, deciding what a woman should wear,” she told a reporter.

Despite dwindling electoral popularity, an ostensibly secular Congress remains one of the few bulwarks against the Hindutva ideology preached and practised by Modi’s BJP, which won its third consecutive five-year term earlier this year.

Human rights groups have accused the Modi government of advocating “hatred and violence” against the 200 million-plus Muslim population, thus altering the secular character of India.

According to Azad Essa, author of “Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel”, India’s closeness to Israel is connected with the anti-Muslim sentiment, which is deeply entrenched in Modi’s politics.

“Many Indians have become major supporters of Israel because the government has managed to create a narrative that the modernising project in India is closely linked with being partners with Israel and that they both face similar enemies in the form of Muslims,” he said.