As part of its efforts to rally global support for India’s war against terror emanating from Pakistan and moving to isolate Islamabad internationally, the government announced Saturday that seven multi-party delegations would visit different countries to convey India’s message post the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. Three of these delegations will be headed by Opposition leaders. The delegations will be headed by Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant Panda, JD(U)’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, DMK’s Kanimozhi, NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Eknath Shinde. The leaders — four from the ruling NDA and three from the Opposition INDIA bloc — are seasoned lawmakers with long stints in public life. In all, 51 political leaders are part of the delegations which will brief 32 countries and the EU. They will visit all the Permanent Five (P5) countries barring China. In moments that matter most, Bharat stands united. Seven All-Party Delegations will soon visit key partner nations, carrying our shared message of zero-tolerance to terrorism. A powerful reflection of national unity above politics, beyond differences.@rsprasad @ShashiTharoor… pic.twitter.com/FerHHACaVK — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 17, 2025 The delegations are expected to leave New Delhi on May 22-23 and will be visiting multiple countries. All the delegations will be accompanied by a current or former diplomat and a liaison officer. Each delegation has six to seven MPs and is scheduled to visit four to five countries, according to a list shared by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. MPs from different parties, including Anurag Thakur, Aparajita Sarangi, Manish Tewari, Asaduddin Owaisi, Amar Singh, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Samik Bhattacharya, Brij Lal, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Vikramjit Sahney, Sasmit Patra and Bhubaneswar Kalita will be part of these delegations. The delegation headed by Tharoor will visit the US, Panama, Guyana, Brazil and Colombia. Among the members of the delegation are MPs LJP (RV)’s Shambhavi Choudhary, JMM’s Sarfaraz Ahmed, TDP’s G M Harish Balayogi, BJP’s Shashank Mani Tripathi and Bhubaneswar Kalita and Shiv Sena’s Milind Deora. The delegation led by Jha is headed to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population. Among the members of the team are Congress’s Salman Khurshid, a former External Affairs Minister, BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi, TMC MP Yusuf Pathan and CPM MP John Brittas. The delegation led by senior BJP Ravi Shankar Prasad will be headed to Europe to brief the EU and countries including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark. His team will include Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, BJP’s D Purandeswari, former Union Minister M J Akbar and Congress’ Amar Singh. While the government had contacted TMC’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay to be part of a delegation, he has conveyed his inability to join, citing health reasons. Sule’s team of MPs will be travelling to South Africa, Qatar, Egypt and Ethiopia. The members include Congress’s Anand Sharma and Manish Tewari, BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Anurag Thakur and AAP’s Vikramjit Sahney. Kanimozhi’s delegation, which has National Conference MP Mian Altaf Ahmad, will travel to Russia, Spain, Greece, Slovenia and Latvia. Shinde’s delegation will travel to the UAE, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. BJD’s Sasmit Patra and Muslim League’s E T Mohammed Basheer are part of this delegation. Panda’s delegation will travel to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Algeria. Among the members are former Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, BJP’s Nishikant Dubey and AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi. “In the context of Operation Sindoor and India’s continued fight against cross-border terrorism, the delegations are set to visit key partner countries, including members of the UN Security Council later this month. The All-Party delegations will project India’s national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They would carry forth to the world the country’s strong message of zero-tolerance against terrorism,” the government said, announcing the names of leaders who will head the seven delegations. MPs from different parties, prominent political personalities, and distinguished diplomats will be part of each delegation, the government said. “In moments that matter most, Bharat stands united. Seven All-Party Delegations will soon visit key partner nations, carrying our shared message of zero-tolerance to terrorism. A powerful reflection of national unity above politics, beyond differences,” Rijiju said. The diplomatic outreach from the government involving the Opposition is reminiscent of the P V Narasimha Rao government’s decision in 1994 to send a team headed by then Opposition leader A B Vajpayee to attend a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, where a Pakistan-sponsored resolution to censure India on its record of human rights in Jammu & Kashmir was successfully thwarted. Among the members of that delegation were Farooq Abdullah and Salman Khurshid. In the wake of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the Manmohan Singh government had sent multi-party delegations abroad to provide evidence of Islamabad’s involvement in the attacks. The move is also significant from a domestic political point of view, since it comes at a time when the Congress is attacking the government over the role played by the US in bringing about a truce between India and Pakistan. Accusing the BJP of politicising Operation Sindoor – BJP leaders have been participating in Tiranga rallies – the Congress has also decided to organise Jai Hind rallies in a dozen cities. The Congress has also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to convene a meeting of NDA Chief Ministers to brief them about Operation Sindoor, asking why only NDA Chief Ministers and not all Chief Ministers were called.
