Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, in separate posts on X, questioned the decline in the ranking of the Indian passport and assailed PM Modi’s silence on Israel’s actions in Gaza. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
New Delhi
The Congress on Monday (July 6, 2026) stepped up its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the foreign policy front, accusing his government of eroding India’s global standing and abandoning the country’s moral voice on West Asia.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, in separate posts on X, questioned the decline in the ranking of the Indian passport, while Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh assailed Mr. Modi’s silence on Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Mr. Kharge alleged that the Union Government’s policies had hurt India’s global reputation, contrasting the Prime Minister’s 2018 claim that Indians abroad knew “the respect and strength of the Indian passport today” with recent passport rankings. He said India had slipped from 74th in 2013 to 80th in June 2026, according to the World Economic Forum, in one global passport ranking, while another index, Global Citizens Solution, placed it at 125th this year.
He also criticised the increase in passport fees, noting that the charge for obtaining a passport had risen from ₹1,500 to ₹2,500, while tatkal fees had gone up to ₹5,000.
Mr. Kharge further pointed to foreign tourist arrivals remaining below pre-COVID levels — falling from 10.93 million in 2019 to 9.95 million in 2024 — and questioned whether the government was “masking this failure” by clubbing NRI arrivals with foreign tourist data.
He also described India’s official visa application portal as outdated and confusing.
Silence on Gaza
In another attack on the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramesh called out his “stony silence” on “Israel’s genocide in Gaza”, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited support from India while pushing back against remarks by U.S. Vice-President J. D. Vance that Washington was Israel’s only powerful ally.
Calling Mr. Modi a “self-styled, award-hungry Vishwaguru”, Mr. Ramesh said the Prime Minister’s silence was a betrayal of India’s “civilisational ethos and values” and was “simply unconscionable”.
“Getting a certificate from Mr. Netanyahu is no badge of honour, especially since he himself is isolated and has evoked frustration and anger even from Mr. Modi’s good friend in the White House himself,” Mr. Ramesh said.
Published – July 06, 2026 11:20 pm IST
