Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 19: India’s efforts to present an united face before the world in exposing Pakistan’s dubious character in respect of terrorism, has been hit by partisan politics with both the Congress and the Trinamool Congress disapproving the names selected by the government from their parties to join the all-party delegations to different countries.
While the Trinamool Congress announced withdrawing from the all-party delegations the sole MP from the TMC, the cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan, the Congress has accused the BJP government at the centre of “playing games” over a sensitive issue by naming its MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor, as leader of one of the seven delegations. Mr Tharoor was not names by the party to join the all-party delegations and three of the four names recommended by the party have not been picked by the government.
The Trinamool Congress leadership has conveyed to the Union government that party MP Yusuf Pathan or any other party MP will not be part of the delegations. The BJP government at the Centre has nominated Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan to be the only MP from the Trinamool Congress to be part of the all-party delegation. The all-party delegations in batches are expected to travel to as many as 35 capitals across the globe to explain India’s stance.
Sources in West Bengal’s ruling party said the Trinamool Congress leadership was not consulted over the selection of the MP as a part of a delegation visiting other countries and conveying India’s message on war against terror. The party is not happy that several senior MPs of the party including leaders of the party in different capacities from both the houses of Parliament were left out by the Centre.
Speaking to reporters the West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee said, “They (Centre) cannot decide the name (of the AITC representative) on their own. If they request the mother party, the party will decide the name. This is customary and is the system. We are totally with the Centre regarding the foreign policy,” adding that “If they request me to send someone’s name, we will decide it and tell them.”
Mamata said, “Nowadays, they (Centre) don’t inform the mother party, but only the parliamentary party. However, the parliamentary party only works for the Parliament session, it cannot take policy decisions. No requests came to us. If the request comes to us, of course, we can consider it. We are totally in favour of the country’s best interests.”
The Trinamool Congress, however has pledged its “support to the Union government to take whatever action was needed to protect our great country.” “Our Armed Forces have made our nation proud and we are forever indebted to them. Foreign policy is entirely within the domain of the Union government. Therefore, let only the Union government decide our foreign policy and take complete responsibility for it,” the Trinamool Congress said, clarifying its stand on the country’s foreign policy.
The Congress also took a similar stand as far as sending the delegation was concerned even though it claimed that the Centre’s unilateral move had left a bad taste in the mouth. Responding to the final list released by the union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday, the Congress general secretary and party spokesman Jairam Ramesh said it showed the “cheap political games the Modi government has played on serious national issues.”
“The 4 eminent Congress MPs/leaders who have been included at the instance of the Modi govt will, of course, go with the delegations and make their contributions. The INC will not stoop to the pathetic level of the PM and the BJP. It will always uphold the finest traditions of Parliamentary democracy and not play partisan politics on national security issues, like the BJP does,” he said on X.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday reiterated the party’s stand and welcomed the move to send all party delegations. However, he added BJP-led union government cannot decide whom to send as a part of the al-party delegation when it comes to non- BJP parties. “Centre or Union government cannot decide unilaterally who will go from which party. Centre should show good intent and call for a wider deliberations from all parties in the Opposition,” Mr Banerjee said.
Observing that Trinamool has not politicised the issue, he said the development should not be viewed as a boycott from Trinamool. “It should not be seen as if we have opted out of the delegation. But we want to make it clear that we will decide who will go from our party, not the Union government.”
The West Bengal Chief Minister had also come out in full support of the Union government after Operation Sindoor and said she stands “shoulder to shoulder with the Union government on the war against terror.” The Trinamool Congress leadership also organised events on May 16 and May 17 across the State in support of the country’s armed forces and paid homage to the soldiers who laid their lives during the recent India Pakistan conflict. BJP Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya is the second public representative from West Bengal nominated by the Union government to be part of the international delegation.
The differences between the BJP and the Congress first emerged when Mr Rijiju named Congress MP Shashi Tharoor as one of the leaders of the seven all-party delegations, while Mr Tharoor was not nominated by his own party. While Mr Ramesh accused the Narendra Modi government of being “dishonest and playing games with a mischievous mindset” by leaving out most of the names given by the party, Mr Rijiju on Monday claimed that the government did not seek any names from the party but had only “informed” the Congress that it would pick four from the Congress to join the 35-member all-party delegation.
Mr Rijiju’s announcement also brought Congress’s fault lines to the fore as Mr Tharoor took to social media to accept the Centre’s invitation. “I am honoured by the invitation of the government of India to lead an all-party delegation to five key capitals, to present our nation’s point of view on recent events. When national interest is involved, and my services are required, I will not be found wanting. Jai Hind!” Mr Tharoor, whose delegation will visit the U.S. besides other South American countries like Brazil, Colombia, Panama and Guyana, posted on X.
In a swipe at Mr Tharoor, Mr Ramesh said, “Congress mein hona aur Congress ka hona mein zameen-aasmaan ka antar hai [There is a world of difference between being in the Congress and being of the Congress].” Besides Mr Tharoor, six other leaders named included the BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad and Jai Panda, DMK’s Kanimozhi, Janata Dal (United)’s Sanjay Jha, Nationalist Congress Party’s Supriya Sule, and the Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde. The government had also reached out to Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay but he declined due to health reasons.
Other MPs the government has nominated include Anurag Thakur, Aparajita Sarangi, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Asaduddin Owaisi, Mr Tewari, Priyanka Chaturvedi, John Brittas, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Mr Amar Singh, Vikramjit Sawhney, Samik Bhattacharya, Brij Lal, Sasmit Patra among others.
The Congress seems to have reconciled to the fact that its MP Shashi Tharoor will be leading the government’s multiparty delegation abroad. While the Congress is dealing with Mr Tharoor like a fish bone stuck in its throat, there is something brewing among its ranks with many powerful leaders of the opinion that he should be let go.
The powerful lobby in the party feels that there have been numerous instances that the senior leader is playing the BJP’s game and, if he sticks around, he could damage the party’s prospects for the Kerala assembly elections in 2026. Also, having burnt its fingers with the exits of Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada among others, these leaders are of the notion that it is best to make him leave before he springs a shock on them.
They also feel that Tharoor should have been more careful with his words and, on being part of the delegation, should have opted out or asked the party before agreeing to go for it. In fact, his post, immediately accepting and taking it as an honour to be nominated to lead the delegation, upset the Congress that felt he should also have tagged the party in his social media post.
