NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has formed ‘parliamentary friendship groups’ with over 60 countries, in a bid to boost Parliament’s global outreach.
A Lok Sabha statement on Monday said the groups, which include senior lawmakers from various political parties, aim to “deepen dialogue and exchanges with legislatures across continents and complement traditional diplomacy with ongoing parliamentary interaction.”
The statement said that the idea behind this initiative “is to allow lawmakers to speak directly to their counterparts abroad, exchange legislative experiences, and build confidence through regular engagement and exchange of best practices to strengthen bilateral relations and promote greater mutual understanding. Beyond parliamentary procedures, the groups are expected to facilitate conversations on trade, technology, social policy, culture, and the global challenges that democracies face today.”
This initiative comes against the backdrop of New Delhi sending parliamentary groups to several countries in the wake of the Pahalgam terrorist attack and Operation Sindoor last year; As part of this, Indian lawmakers have played a key role in international outreach against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
The new groups of lawmakers are expected to strengthen India’s global standing and project India not just as a political power but as a confident and mature democracy willing to engage, listen and cooperate, the statement said.
Senior parliamentarians including BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Baijayant Panda, Nishikant Dubey, Anurag Singh Thakur, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Dr. Purandeswari, Hema Malini, Biplab Kumar Deb, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Jagdambika Pal, Sasmit Batra, Aparajita Sarangi and Congress MPs P. Chidambaram, Gaurav Gogoi, Manish Tiwari, KC Venugopal and Shashi Tharoor will lead the parliamentary groups.
Some other politicians who will lead the groups are ADMK’s Thambidurai, Samajwadi Party leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav, DMK’s TR Baalu and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Trinamool Congress’ Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O’Brien and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
The countries with which the groups have been formed include Sri Lanka, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, South Africa, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Maldives, USA, Russia, European Union Parliament, South Korea, Nepal, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Oman, Australia, Greece, Singapore, Brazil, Vietnam, Mexico, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Each group includes 11 deputies. Officials added that more such groups are being planned.
