New Delhi:
The Congress has accused the BJP of politicising Operation Sindoor after only one of four names it suggested for all-party delegations to the international community was accepted. The Congress, though, said it would put national interest first and not interfere at this stage.
“The government had mischievous intentions from the beginning. They added four more names which were not in our list… We know that Operation Sindoor is being politicised,” senior Congress leader and the party’s communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh told reporters.
Senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, Mr Ramesh said, had sent four names – Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Nasir Hussain and Raja Brar. But only one – Anand Sharma – got accepted.
The Centre, however, has picked a few other Congress leaders – including Shashi Tharoor – who was not on the party’s official list.
These MPs, Mr Ramesh said, are not representatives of the party, but they should “listen to their conscience and not politicise it”.
“The Congress party believes that national interest is paramount… Let the MPs go… we will not stop them, we will not boycott this delegation. We do not politicise it,” Mr Ramesh added.
Following Operation Sindoor, the government has taken a huge initiative of sending teams of leaders — cutting across party lines — to key nations to brief them and explain India’s “collective resolve on terrorism”.
The lists were posted on X, formerly Twitter, yesterday by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju.
“One mission. One message. One Bharat. Seven all-party delegations will soon engage key nations under Operation Sindoor, reflecting our collective resolve against terrorism,” Mr Rijiju said in his post.
One mission. One message. One Bharat 🇮🇳
Seven All-Party Delegations will soon engage key nations under #OperationSindoor, reflecting our collective resolve against terrorism.Here’s the list of MPs & delegations representing this united front. https://t.co/1igT7D21mZ pic.twitter.com/3eaZS21PbC
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 17, 2025
Besides Mr Tharoor, the Centre has picked Amar Singh, and Manish Tewari.
Ravi Shankar Prasad will lead the delegation to the UK, France, Germany, EU, Italy and Denmark.
Shashi Tharoor, who was a diplomat before he joined politics full-time, will take the delegation to the US, Panama, Guyana, Brazil, and Colombia.
The delegation led by Sanjay Kumar Jha will fly to Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Japan, and Singapore.