‘Not one Kashmiri Pandit’: Congress MP slams multi-party delegation on Op Sindoor

Kiren Rijiju released a list of an all-party delegation set to visit key partner countries in an effort to expose Pakistan's support for terrorism.

Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha on Sunday expressed his disappointment over the multi-party delegation put together by the government on Operation Sindoor not including any Kashmiri Pandits.

The Congress MP claimed that the government had only chosen their favourite personalities for the all-party delegations

He further alleged that the government had only chosen their favourite personalities of the delegations and stated that the Kashmiri Pandits were being treated like a forgotten species.

In a post on X, he said, “The concept of sending 7 All Party delegations to world capitals is laudable. But unfortunately it reads like a long List of Govt favourites barring some exceptions!! The issue is 'J&K' but not one Kashmiri Pandit in the any of the 7 delegations. Looks (like) a forgotten specie(s)."

"What is disturbing that KPs are neither part of PMO India list nor are part of the list of four forwarded by LOP!! In a Nationally represented delegation not one person fr(om) Madhya Pradesh. Must be an undeserving state," he added.

The Congress leader's criticism comes as a reaction to all-party delegations (seven consisting of members of different parties) set up by Union Minority Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, to reach out to global allies regarding Pakistan's support of cross-border terrorism and India's zero-tolerance policy towards it.

The list includes MPs from multiple parties, divided into seven groups of 8-9 members. A leader has been assigned for each group, who will lead the delegation at a global level.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju also highlighted how the Members of Parliament have shown a united stance of “One mission. One message. One Bharat,” regarding India's support to Pakistan. 

Jairam Ramesh criticises selection for delegations

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday expressed strong objection to the central government choosing only one party MP out its four nominations for the all party-delegations.

He said that it was not "appropriate" to do politics, after the Central government selected members that were not recommended by Congress, most notably Shashi Tharoor.

“Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter and before 12 noon on the 16th May, we sent 4 names from our party for the all-party MPs delegation- Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Nasir Hussain and Raja Brar. The government had mischievous intentions from the beginning, they added 4 more names which were not in our list,” he said.

He added, “We know that Operation Sindoor is being politicised. But the Congress party believes that national interest is paramount. They have included only one name from our list, 4 more are our MPs, they are not representatives of the party, but they should listen to their conscience and not politicise it.”