'Law of jungle prevails': Cong on US action in Venezuela

The Congress on Sunday expressed "grave concern" over the US action in Venezuela and said settled principles of international law cannot be violated unilaterally.

IMAGE: Demonstrators shout slogans as they protest outside the US embassy in Madrid against the US strike on Venezuela, and capture of its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, in Madrid, Spain, January 4, 2026. Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters

Congress general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The INC expresses very grave concern on US actions relating to Venezuela in the past 24 hours."

"Settled principles of international law cannot be violated unilaterally," Ramesh said in a post on X.

Senior Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Abhishek Manu Singhvi too have weighed in on the United States' action.

Tharoor said international law and the United Nations Charter had been ignored for some time, and now law of the Jungle prevails.

In a post on X, he wrote, "International law and the UN Charter have for some years now been honoured in the breach, @kapskom. The Law of the Jungle prevails today. 'Might is Right' is the new creed."

Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi called the action a return to imperial-style politics.

"Regime change by cruise missile, democracy delivered by warship, & sovereignty rewritten under self-styled Doctrine? Not leadership, this is 19th-cen imperialism in 21st-cen jargon. If international law matters only 2 weak, UN should shut shop. world deserves rules, not lunatic rulers," he said on X.

India has voiced "deep concern" over the US capturing Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a military operation, and said it is closely monitoring the unfolding situation in the oil-rich South American country.

In its first reaction to the unprecedented American action in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, early on Saturday, New Delhi also called for a peaceful resolution of the situation through dialogue to ensure stability in the region and reaffirmed its support for the well-being of the people of that country.

The United States brought Maduro and his wife, Lady Cilia Flores, to New York to face drug trafficking-related charges. Venezuela, denouncing the US action, has announced a state of national emergency.

President Donald Trump has said that the United States would run Venezuela until "we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition", and American companies will help tap the vast oil reserves.