What are our MPs up to? Questions start being asked

Is it excessively aboriginal to measure the interaction of the 7 delegations of MPs connected a satellite circuit to convey India’s beef with Pakistan? The delegations by each accounts are having much interaction astatine location and overmuch little interaction abroad.

The Members of Parliament of people person been dutifully parroting their little of telling mostly the Indian diaspora that this is caller India which volition ne'er bow down to Pakistan. As evidence, perceive to Bansuri Swaraj code an assemblage successful Hindi successful Sierra Leone—the assemblage invisible successful the clip.

The MPs, to beryllium truthful, look to person rehearsed their portion well, making adjacent Nishikant Dubey dependable similar a statesman; adjacent arsenic Indian newspapers and TV channels support reporting connected the ‘global yatra’ oregon the ‘tour de farce’ arsenic a commentator enactment it, it is becoming painfully wide though that the remainder of the satellite does not rather recognize the existential menace to India from a smaller, impoverished, divided and militarily anemic neighbour, which has besides been the unfortunate of terrorists.

Judging by ocular grounds shared with the state truthful far, commentators note, the MPs are being received connected overseas shores by Indian officials from the section embassy and an ANI cameraman; they garland statues of Mahatma Gandhi if determination is one—and determination are successful astir capitals—visit the embassy for a briefing and a gathering with the Indian diaspora.

A hurried sightseeing travel is thrown successful and the MPs person deliberations with 10 oregon much officials from the state they are visiting. In Rome, they conscionable Italy’s under-secretary for overseas affairs.

In Panama, Shashi Tharoor takes a locomotion and appreciates the architecture of the buildings earlier the MPs are driven to spot the Panama Canal successful the quality due to the fact that President Trump wants to instrumentality it back. Then it is clip to instrumentality the adjacent formation for the adjacent destination.

“The 1 happening I’ve noticed astir the assorted clips being shown of the Indian parliamentary delegations’ outreach connected the latest India-Pak skirmish is that the assemblage being addressed is astir ne'er shown”, noted erstwhile Major General BS Dhanoa, adding: “Is this deliberate oregon americium I speechmaking excessively overmuch into it?”

In a testy blogpost, Krishna Prasad, erstwhile editor-in-chief of Outlook magazine, reflected connected the MPs’ somewhat frustrating overseas travel truthful far. “At the extremity of it, determination is simply a boilerplate property release. If you are lucky, similar Supriya Sule’s team, you get a leafage 2 communicative successful Qatar. If you are not, similar Jay Panda’s, you are connected leafage 13 successful Bahrain without adjacent a passing notation of Pakistan.

Sometimes, it tin conscionable beryllium a photograph communicative to liven up a leafage a la Tharoor”. He concluded the station by asking if the MEA has been asked to reply to the close questions. He listed 15 questions. As a sample, present are 5 of them:

1. How galore heads of countries---presidents, premier ministers, kings, emirs, etc---have fixed the delegations their clip and attention?

2. How galore apical quality media editors, journalists and columnists of non-Indian root person the MPs got to conscionable successful idiosyncratic successful these countries to seek to person them of India's case?

3. Has the starring paper successful immoderate of the 33 countries carried a one-on-one interrogation with the caput of immoderate of the 7 MPs' teams?

4. On however galore TV quality channels person 1 oregon much members of the delegations look connected primetime discussions?

5. Which are the thinktanks that the MPs met successful each of these countries? How were they identified? Were lone those which person historically enjoyed MEA hospitality invited?

What tin beryllium said with near-certainty is that the past question asked successful the station volition ne'er beryllium answered. How overmuch did the junket outgo the Indian taxpayers?