New Delhi
Iran has invited the top leadership of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition Congress Party and several lawmakers to attend the funeral program of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The Iranian ambassador’s office sent invitations to BJP national president Nitin Nabin, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharji, and senior leader Salman Khorshid, the former external affairs minister who heads the party’s foreign affairs department, said the sources, requesting anonymity.
There has been no official comment on the level of BJP participation in the main event of the funeral program scheduled to be held in Tehran on July 4. The Congress party nominated Khurshid to attend the event because Kharge would not be able to participate, people said.
Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margarita and Governor of Bihar Lieutenant General (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain are expected to represent India in the funeral programme.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian last week invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the funeral programme, a six-day event spanning three Iranian cities. The Indian side is yet to make an official announcement about its participation, although the Prime Minister is unlikely to participate in the event.
Several other Indian political leaders and lawmakers were also invited to attend the funeral programme, including Peoples Democratic Party leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, the people said.
Others invited by the Iranian side include Agha Syed Ruhollah Mehdi and Muhammad Hanifa Jan, both senior MPs from Kashmir and Ladakh, and legislators Imran Masood and Afzal Ansari, both from Uttar Pradesh.
Khamenei, 86, was killed on February 28, the first day of the conflict in West Asia sparked by Israel and US attacks on Iran. He died in an air strike on the complex housing his office in Tehran.
The funeral program will begin with a farewell ceremony in Tehran from July 4 to 5, and the main funeral procession is scheduled to take place in the Iranian capital on July 6, according to Iranian state media. On July 7, a burial ceremony will be held in the holy city of Qom, and the burial is scheduled to take place in Mashhad, Khamenei’s birthplace, on July 9.
