New Delhi: The Modi government announced on Saturday the establishment of seven teams to launch a comprehensive diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on the international stage. Opposition leaders Shashi Tharoor of Congress, Supriya Sule of NCP (SP) and Kanimozhi of DMK will lead three full-party delegations to key partners to convey India’s message of zero tolerance for zero tolerance following the Sindoor operation. BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant’Jay’ Panda, Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde and JD (U)’s Sanjay Jha will lead the remaining four teams.
The government has selected members of Congress from different political parties around the world to propose India’s “counter-terrorism national consensus” to the world, including members of the UN Security Council. Anurag Thakur, Aparajita Sarangi, Manish Tewari, Amar Singh, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Samik Bhattacharya, Brij Lal, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Vikramjit Sawhney, Sasmit Patra, Salman Khurshid, Anand Sharma, Tejasvi Surya, John Brittas, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Bhubaneswar Kalita will be part of the seven delegations.
All opposition parties support and welcome the delegation. Congress raised discordant notes, accusing the government of “playing the game” by announcing the party’s recommendations from the outside delegation of four members of Congress. The government retains only Anand Sharma of the four names given by Congress
“The whole party delegation will have a national consensus and firm approach to combat terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They will convey a zero tolerance message to the world,” a statement issued by the Parliamentary Affairs Department said.
“At the most important moment, Bharat is immediately unified. Seven full-party delegations will soon visit the main partner countries with a shared message of our zero tolerance for terrorism,” said the ministry’s statement, Kiren Rijiju said, “In addition to the differences, a strong reflection of national unity.”
The government statement said the proposed visits of seven full-party delegations were conducted against the backdrop of Operation Sindor and India’s continued battle against cross-border terrorism.
Tharoor will lead the missions in the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Panama and Guyana. The delegation led by Kanimozhi will travel to Russia, Spain, Greece and Slovenia.
The delegation led by Ravi Shankar Prasad will visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Algeria, while Sull’s team of MPs will travel to Qatar, Ethiopia, South Africa and Egypt.
A delegation led by JD (U) MPs may visit Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population.
Mr. Sind’s team of MPs will visit the UAE, Liberia, Congo and Sierra Leone.
The three delegations have nine members and the remaining four have eight members. The government also includes retired ambassadors such as Pankaj Saran, Harsh Singla, jawed ashraf and Syed Akbaruddin.
Each delegation will meet with senior officials, legislators and policy influencers at their respective destinations. Topics discussed will include Pahalgam attacks and India’s responses.
