The palpable irrelevance of New Delhi as a player in the ups and downs of the current conflict in the Middle East has forced the BJP to downplay the global catastrophe in its campaign for the ongoing state assembly polls in the country. Although local issues tend to dominate regional elections, the ruling party, under normal circumstances, has been known to project Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the Vishwaguru, whose personal influence with powerful leaders across the world serves as a source of nationalist pride to voters in both state and national polls. Interestingly, while the BJP has largely kept mum on the raging Gulf war, apart from promising to take care of national interests, the Congress has gone out of its way to mock the Modi government for its lack of international clout.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while campaigning particularly in Kerala, which has a vast number of expatriates in the Gulf region, has castigated the central government for failing to look after the security of both India’s energy needs and Gulf expatriates by surrendering its foreign policy to US President Donald Trump. Gandhi and other Congress leaders have repeatedly accused the Prime Minister of being unable to either stop high prices and shortages of petrol and gas cylinders or ensure the safety of Indians working and residing in Gulf countries. The Congress supremo had earlier condemned Mr. Modi for visiting Israel on the eve of the joint US-Israeli military operation, claiming that this had seriously damaged the country’s leverage as a neutral........

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