Indian MP and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor recently landed himself in trouble with the party by hailing the central government. But this time, the central government has given him an important task of leading an all-party delegation whose mission is to convey India's clear message against terror to the world.
This operation has been carried out following 'Operation Sindoor'. On April 22, 26 innocent individuals were martyred in a terror attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. India retaliated against the attack by launching 'Operation Sindoor' on May 7 and eliminating terror camps having a base in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Several camps of terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen were hit, killing Indian soldiers and more than a hundred terrorists.
In response to this operation, the Pakistani army attempted to invade western India with missiles and drones but were successfully repelled. India also struck back by attacking several military targets inside Pakistan. Finally, on May 10, the two countries agreed to a cease-fire on a temporary basis.
In this context, the Indian government announced the formation of seven all-party delegations, which will travel to various major countries of the world to convey India's message of opposition to terrorism. The delegation is being led by Shashi Tharoor, a former diplomat and current Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram. On receiving this assignment he said on X (formerly Twitter), "When national interest is involved, I will never back down if I am called on."
This delegation consists not only of the ruling party, but opposition party leaders as well. DMK's Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) Supriya Sule are traveling with Tharoor. BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant Panda, JDU's Sanjay Kumar Jha and Shiv Sena's (Nada faction) Shrikant Shinde will travel with the other four groups.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs declared that the teams will also go to the member countries of the UN Security Council. Through them, the world will be informed of the message of India's combined stance and policy of zero tolerance to terror.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju wrote in X, "India stands together at the most crucial time." He had described it as a "reflection of national unity above politics."
The BJP team is also going to include Nishikant Dubey of BJP, Bansuri Swaraj, Anurag Thakur, MJ Akbar, Samik Bhattacharya, Daggubati Purandeswari and SS Ahluwalia. Other parties also include AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress MPs Salman Khurshid and Manish Tewari, DPAP president Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction)'s Priyanka Chaturvedi, BJD's Sasmit Patra, Aam Aadmi Party's Vikramjit Sawani and CPI(M)'s John Brittas.
For nearly 10 days, these envoys will engage with governments and global bodies of various countries to reflect India's perspective. The most important reason for this step is to highlight India's zero tolerance policy against terrorism globally.
This move is a complete manifestation of India's diplomatic approach - where the ruling and opposition parties are vowing to unite and protect the country's interests, leaving politics behind.
