After Diplomatic Outreach Success On Operation Sindoor, India Plans Permanent 'Parliamentary Friendship Groups'

Following the successful global outreach efforts after the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, the government is considering the establishment of multi-party 'Parliamentary Friendship Groups'. These groups would engage with their international equivalents.

Om Birla, the Lok Sabha Speaker, announced on Monday (23 June) in Mumbai that all parties will engage in discussions on this matter in the upcoming Parliament session, The Indian Express reported.

“Several countries have such multi-party parliamentary groups, and they keep asking us to form them. These groups will regularly interact with their counterparts abroad and articulate House best practices and maintain communication between our and the Parliaments of other countries,” Birla said on the sidelines of a conference.

During a nearly two-hour meeting on 10 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with groups of MPs who had just returned from their tours related to Operation Sindoor. He expressed satisfaction with the success of the operation and proposed that it could be made a permanent practice.

The delegation leaders included Shashi Tharoor from Congress, Sanjay Kumar Jha from JD(U), Baijayant Panda and Ravi Shankar Prasad from BJP, Supriya Sule from NCP(SP), Shrikant Shinde from Shiv Sena, and Kanimozhi from DMK.

Birla is currently in Mumbai to participate in a two-day National Conference of Estimates Committees of Parliament and State/Union Territory Legislative Bodies, an event that is taking place after a hiatus of 23 years.

Monday's discussions were conducted at the Maharashtra Assembly, with notable attendees including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Speaker Rahul Narwekar, and Estimates Committee Chairman Sanjay Jaiswal, among others.