India’s vote against UNHRC is incomprehensible

India’svote against the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution that castigated the barbaric crackdown on protests in Iran is unfortunate, ill-advised, and incomprehensible. The resolution was adopted by the 47-member body, with 25 in favour. The seven nations that opposed it included Pakistan and China. There were 14 abstentions. How does getting bracketed with the two rogue nations, which also happen to be our enemies, help New Delhi’s cause is something that only the Ministry of External Affairs mandarins can explain. The Islamist regime in Tehran is cruel; it has killed thousands of its own citizens as they were protesting against the dangerous policies the Ayatollahs have been pursuing for decades, resulting in untold economic misery for the common people. Inflation is soaring, and people are struggling to make ends meet in a country that has abundant oil resources. The UNHRC resolution extended the mandate of a fact-finding mission on the country by two years; it also authorised the panel to investigate last month’s “repression.” The resolution “urged the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect, protect and fulfill its human rights obligations and to take all measures necessary to stop and prevent extrajudicial killing, other forms of arbitrary deprivation of life, enforced disappearance, sexual and gender-based violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, incommunicado detention and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including against peaceful protesters.”

For Islamist nations like Pakistan and communist dictatorships like China, such human rights concerns are of no consequence, but India is the largest democracy; it doesn’t behoove India, a wannabe global power, to turn a blind eye to the egregiously brutal behaviour of a theocratic government. Unsurprisingly, our unwise decision has pleased Tehran. Mohammad Fathali, Ambassador of Iran to India, posted on Saturday on X: “I extend my sincere gratitude to the Government of India for its principled and firm support of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the UNHRC, including opposing an unjust and politically motivated resolution. This stance reflects India’s commitment to justice, multilateralism, and national sovereignty (sic).” Those who support the monsters of Hamas and Hezbollah and want to destroy Israel talk about “justice, multilateralism, and national sovereignty”! This is the apogee of hypocrisy. Lest one forgets, Iran’s actions are not accidental; they are central to its ideological project. That India’s vote enabled this narrative is deeply troubling. It has handed Tehran a propaganda victory and weakened India’s moral standing. Worse, it sends a signal—both to authoritarian regimes and to oppressed peoples—that India’s commitment to human rights is whimsical, for in this case it can’t be said that the decision was the consequence of some geopolitical compulsion.

This is not the message a self-confident democracy should project. India has historically taken pride in its role as a voice for the oppressed, from its leadership in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to its advocacy against apartheid. Abandoning that legacy does not make India more “realist” or “strategic”. On the contrary, it makes it smaller. One must not forget that global influence ultimately rests not just on economic or military power, but on credibility. By opposing a resolution that sought accountability for mass repression, New Delhi has chipped away at that credibility—at a time when it can least afford to do so. Voting against the UNHRC resolution is tantamount to active opposition to an investigation into mass repression.