Congress MPs on Indian Delegation Mission to Abroad

India's parliamentary democracy is so well thought out and organized that the rights of MPs of every elected party are equal within the House. It does not matter which Member of Parliament is with the Treasury Benches and who is with the Opposition. The parliamentary democratic system is a unique system derived from the Indian freedom movement in which the voter of India has been made its master. By exercising his right to one vote, the voter elects every MP directly and indirectly.

These MPs reach the Parliament and become its voice, but when these MPs are on foreign soil, they are members of the Parliament of India and represent India. On foreign soil, the Members of Parliament become secondary to the membership of their own party and they are called Members of Parliament of India. Therefore, whichever party occupies power in India, it is their own government and according to its policies, it is their religion to present the image of India abroad. In this connection, I am reminded of the visit of Shri L.K. Advani, the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India, to the United Nations in 2012.

At that time, the UPA government of Dr. Manmohan Singh was led by the Congress in the country. Dr. Manmohan Singh had sent Mr. Advani to attend the 67th General Assembly of the United Nations. Speaking on the subject of social development, Shri Advani praised the Prime Minister's rural employment scheme MNREGA and described it as the world's biggest poverty alleviation and empowerment of the common man. Mr Advani said, MGNREGA is the world's largest cash-for-work scheme which has played a significant role in eradicating poverty from villages and empowering people economically. The scheme guarantees 100 days of employment to 53 million people in India in a year and 50 per cent of them are women.

This scheme is also removing social inequality and rural people are also becoming financially empowered. Along with this, rural infrastructure is also being built in India, which is strengthening economic development. It was the month of October 2012 and by that time the Manmohan Singh government was engulfed in various scandals in India. Therefore, if the Congress leaders are strongly advocating the policies of the Modi government by going abroad, then the leaders of the Congress party should not panic. But the Congress leaders in India seem nervous about the speech of Congress MPs who are part of the multi-party delegations sent abroad by the Modi government against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and some leaders are even calling them the general spokesperson of the BJP.

Congress MP in Lok Sabha Shashi Tharoor has been given this title by a Congress leader. It seems that the Congress party high command is confused by Mr. Tharoor's statements abroad. If the Congressmen are not able to understand that Mr. Tharoor is not a Congress MP on foreign soil but an MP of the Parliament of India, then it is their problem. Abroad, Mr. Tharoor's dharma was to defend the Indian government fiercely, because the question is of the terrorism that Pakistan is running in India. On April 22, 27 Indian nationals were killed by Pakistani terrorists in Pahalgam, Kashmir, asking about their religion.

India retaliated by launching military Operation Sindoor and destroyed nine terrorist hideouts in Pakistan. Along with this, 11 air bases of Pakistan were also destroyed. India had taken this military action only for self-defense, which it had full right. In order to sway world opinion in favour of India on this issue, the Government of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi sent seven multi-party delegations of MPs to 32 countries of the world. It is obvious that the religion of these delegations was to present India's case abroad. When there is a BJP-led NDA government of Shri Narendra Modi in India, all these MPs will interpret the policies of this government and they will have no connection with the policies of their party at such a time.

Of course, after returning to India, they will be free to comment on any matter according to the policies of their party, because we have been in a strong democracy, but the Congress leaders do not see this and they are criticizing the opinion of the MPs in the delegations sent abroad. Apart from Shashi Tharoor, former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari are also on the target of Congress. When Mr. Khurshid said on foreign soil that the Government of India in Jammu and Kashmir strengthened the all-round inclusion of this state in India by abolishing Article 370 in 2019, Congress leaders in India were irritated.

Salman Khurshid supported the opinion of the Government of India about Jammu and Kashmir by making such a statement and proved that any government in India can be Manmohan or Modi government, but abroad it is 'India's government'. In domestic politics, the Congress's stand on Kashmir may be anything, but abroad, the vote of every MP will be the opinion of the Government of India and every policy of the party will be India's policy. This will send the same message abroad that the whole of India is the same at the time of crisis, anyway, there is the same opinion within India about Kashmir that Article 370 kept this state different from the rest of India.

So Salman Khurshid has not dropped any lightning on the political scene. Apart from this, Mr. Manish Tewari of the Congress also fully supported the Government of India on the issue of terrorism and Pakistan and gave a statement according to the policies of the Modi Government. He said on foreign soil that Pakistan cannot be spared on the issue of terrorism and if it takes any terrorist action in the future, it will be responded in a very strong manner in the same way as the Pahalgam incident was done under Operation Sindoor. Tewari categorically stated that there was no role for the US or any third country in the ceasefire between India and Pakistan on May 10. The ceasefire was declared after talks between the military commanders of the two countries.

In fact, all the MPs of the Congress have stood on foreign soil and followed the national religion, but here within India, the leader of the Congress, Mr. P. Chidambaram, also praised the Modi government in the context of Pakistan and he indirectly warned the Congress leadership that the party identity of politicians does not matter at the time of national crisis. He said in India that which MP from which party will be included in the foreign delegations? The Government has every right to choose it, because delegations are being sent abroad to present India's case. Therefore, the government has the right to decide which MP of the Congress party will be involved, while the Congress leaders were saying that the party high command or the president of this party should get the right to decide which MP should be sent abroad. By the way, by creating such a controversy, the Congress has shown its foresight.