India's Punjab state and farmers unions express solidarity with Iran amid government silence

India's Punjab state and farmers unions express solidarity with Iran amid government silence Submitted by Shraddha Joshi on Fri, 03/13/2026 - 14:37 The rare condemnations diverge from the Modi government's tacit backing of the US-Israel war on Iran Farmers protest after the India-US trade deal announcement in Amritsar on 5 February 2026 (Narinder Nanu/AFP) Off The state government of Punjab held a moment of silence in solidarity with the Iranian people last week, becoming the first and only Indian state to directly condemn the US - Israeli war on Iran. The act of solidarity marks a sharp contrast from how US and Israeli attacks have been met with silence and even tacit support by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's central government. In a recording of the state's budgetary session published by the government of Punjab, Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, a member of the Legislative Assembly, decried the attacks that began on 28 February, particularly the strike on a school that killed around 165 children, an act he called "inhuman".