Internationalism No. 87, May 2026 Page 13 Less than a month after the US-Israeli attack on Iran, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Lok Sabha, the lower house, evoking the precedent of the COVID-19 crisis and calling for national unity. For The Indian Express , this demonstrates the gravity of the situation. The government has set up a ministerial committee, led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, to monitor the impact of the war: it includes the ministers of Home Affairs, Finance, and Petroleum. Modi then summoned the chief ministers of the States to assess the situation and agree on mitigation measures: he called for cracking down on the black market and hoarding, and for ensuring that support reaches its intended recipients, particularly migrant workers. From austerity measures due to the shortage of cooking gas to rising airfares, the war in the Middle East is exacerbating the ...