New Delhi: Four days after South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, the Narendra Modi government had yet to issue a publicly congratulatory message, despite her Indian Tamil ancestry and her family’s historical connection to the indentured labour system that took thousands of Indians to colonial plantations in Africa.Pillay, 85, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 9 for her efforts to promote peace and international law. Her life and work have been spent fighting genocide and apartheid. She served as a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 1995 to 2003, including four years as its president, and as a judge of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2012.From 2008 to 2014, she was the UN high commissioner for Human Rights.During her tenure, Pillay repeatedly raised concerns about alleged human rights violations in Kashmir, including disappearances, extrajudicial killings and unmarked graves, putting her at odds with New Delhi’s resistance to international scrutiny of the region.More recently, she chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory which concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the commission’s findings.The Israeli government had immediately denounced Pillay being awarded the globe’s foremost peace prize, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming that Norwegian Nobel Committee had “lost its moral compass.” He also described Pillay as “the woman who propagated the demonization of Jews”.The Wire has asked the Ministry of External Affairs whether the Indian government intends to congratulate Pillay on the award.Pillay’s achievement has been celebrated in Tamil Nadu, with Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and other political leaders extending congratulations.Pillay’s Gaza findings and India’s Israel policySince 2014, the Narendra Modi government has been more visibly aligned with the Isreli government. India’s response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza has drawn scrutiny from human rights advocates, particularly after the scale of civilian deaths and destruction became apparent.As Marcy Newman most recently essayed for The Wire, India manufactures weapons components for Israel, collaborates on water with Israel’s state-run water supply company which has been accused of exploiting Palestinian water resources, and has had numerous points of overlaps in military production.Modi had also notably visited Israel earlier this year at the invitation of Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The visit had been in the midst of gathering war clouds – and just days before United States and Israel started the second Iran war.While India’s position had been more aligned towards Israel in the initial months of both the Gaza war and the Iran war, with no condemnation of Israel, it had to subsequently adopt a more nuanced position, reiterating support for a two-state solution and expressing concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. During the conflict involving Iran, Israel and the United States, India has had to balance its strategic relationship with Israel against regional stability and its own economic interests.When India launched its campaign for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2028-29 term, external affairs minister S Jaishankar specifically highlighted its support for the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution, amid widespread international criticism of Israel’s actions in West Asia. Therefore, it is a bit inexplicable to see the complete absence on any congratulatory message for Pillay.However, sources familiar with the matter have disputed the suggestion that India’s silence is linked to Pillay’s findings on Gaza and her criticism of Israel. They point instead to her record as UN Human Rights chief, when she repeatedly raised concerns about alleged human rights violations in Kashmir, including disappearances, extrajudicial killings and unmarked graves. Her interventions on Kashmir are more of a sensitive issue for New Delhi, sources asserted.A question of recognitionThe absence of a congratulatory message for Pillay also recalls earlier occasions when Modi did not publicly acknowledge major international awards won by prominent Indians critical of the establishment.As earlier reported by The Wire, Modi was silent for the 2025 International Booker Prize win for Banu Mushtaq, the 2022 International Booker for Geetanjali Shree, the 2019 Ramon Magsaysay Award for journalist Ravish Kumar, the 2016 Magsaysay for rights defender Bezwada Wilson and singer T.M. Krishna.While these are all Indian citizens, a comparable example is in the astronaut Sunita Williams. In 2007, when Williams arrived in Gujarat, then ruled by Modi as chief minister, Modi had famously refused to accord her the status of a state guest. This was because Williams was the cousin of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya, who had been assassinated in 2003. Pandya’s father accused Modi of being responsible for his son’s death, an allegation that should not be presented as an established finding.Cut to 2025, Modi was tweeting effusively about Williams’ return to earth after a 286-day space mission. He mentioned her by name as opposed to her crewmates.The Indian government’s silence on Pillay is also at odds with its very recent show of indignation to what US vice-president J.D. Vance said while claiming that the Trump administration wants foreign and local companies to “employ American workers” while announcing the suspension of IT firms from the green card (PERM) programme. Vance said that these companies “cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”India rebuked Vance for describing foreign professionals as “indentured servants” with the Ministry of External Affairs saying that the terminology carrying “painful historical and colonial legacy connotations” is “deeply offensive”.This is relevant because large numbers of Indians, including Tamils, were transported under British colonial rule to work on plantations and in mines across Africa. Pillay belongs to one such family. Pillay is famously from Durban, in the suburb of Clairwood, where the Indian-origin community celebrated her Nobel win. The community had raised money for her studies, after her school principal recognised her potential to go to university.Rishi Singh, of the Clairwood Ratepayers and Residents’ Association, said the Nobel recognition had particular significance for the Durban neighbourhood where Pillay grew up, even as it was a moment of pride for South Africa as a whole. “We are very proud,” Singh told the South African media outlet, IOL.A South African journalist of Indian origin explained in a Bloomberg newsletter that even before she became a Nobel laureate, Navi Pillay held a special place in her community. “In South African families descended from indentured labourers and constrained by apartheid, the directive was sometimes more specific: study hard and you could be like Navi Pillay,” she wrote.“She held a special place in the community. Countless elders followed her rise with pride and awe, some having known her or her family personally.”India had always sought to project the large 1.2 million diaspora of Indian origin in South Africa as a link between the two major Global South countries.In fact, just before Modi’s last visit to South Africa, India had announced that eligible descendants of Indian-origin migrants up to the seventh generation would qualify for Overseas Citizen of India cards, extending the earlier fourth-generation limit.During Modi’s visit, he gave a speech at a reception in Durban, where he praised the Indian community. He said that despite the sufferings of early generations of Indians under apartheid and colonial rule, they preserved their culture and values.“And, today, they are proud, successful and loyal citizens of this country,” the Prime Minister said.According to Modi, the historical links give a strong foundation to build the modern-day partnership between India and South Africa.Pillay’s statements on Kashmir and India’s discomfortWhen Pillay had first visited India as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2009, she had noted that India has a duty to use its global influence to speak out on human rights. “I encourage India to speak out on its own, as well as in concert with others, whenever the human rights agenda that it cherishes and seeks to pursue domestically becomes of concern elsewhere,” she had said.She would repeatedly invoke that responsibility in raising concerns over India’s own human rights record, particularly in Kashmir.Three months after taking office as UN High Commissioner in December 2008, Pillay, at a press conference at UN headquarters, referred to detentions, extrajudicial killings, restrictions on freedom of movement and the impact of the India-Pakistan conflict on civilians, describing these as “of grave concern”. She said her office would continue to focus on the violations and referred to the right of people living in Kashmir to participate in a democratic process,During her first visit to India as High Commissioner in March 2009, Pillay told the National Human Rights Commission that “in the past two decades, hundreds of cases of disappearances have been reported in Kashmir”. She said these cases “must be properly investigated” to bring closure to families who had been waiting for news of their missing relatives.In December 2011, Pillay again addressed the issue at a press conference, saying, “My office focusses on Kashmir and the violations there. We have had a number of exchanges of correspondence.” Asked about a possible international inquiry, she said a proper investigation would require access to the territory, which depended on the Indian government’s consent.In October 2012, Pillay returned to the issue of disappearances and unmarked mass graves. Citing a 2011 report by the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission, she referred to the discovery of 1,730 bodies in unmarked graves, 574 of which had been identified as disappeared local people. “I urge the Indian authorities to fully investigate past killings and disappearances and bring the perpetrators to justice,” she said, also calling for protection for witnesses and the families of missing people.Following the December 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi, Pillay called for the case to become a turning point in tackling sexual violence and welcomed the Justice J.S. Verma Committee’s subsequent report on reforms to address violence against women. She also praised movement to eradicate manual scavenging as a manifestation of caste discrimination and condemned the Supreme Court’s December 2013 decision restoring the criminalisation of consensual same-sex relations, describing it as a setback for human rights.In 2014, Pillay urged India to ensure that perpetrators of caste-based sexual attacks do not escape justice. This was noteworthy as Pillay was reported as the first UN human rights commissioner to take on caste discrimination.“Women from stigmatised castes suffer the double assault of caste-based and gender-based discrimination,” Pillay said on the sidelines of a session of the UN Human Rights Council.India has often responded to international criticism of caste discrimination by maintaining that the Constitution and domestic legal system prohibit and address the practice.