Forty-odd hours of high drama over Trinamool Congress participation in the post-Operation Sindoor all-party diplomatic exercise of the Narendra Modi government to 32 nations and the European Union ended on Tuesday afternoon as Mamata Banerjee nominated her nephew Abhishek Banerjee for the Southeast-East Asia-bound delegation.
The Trinamool supreme leadership had made the party’s Behrampore MP Yusuf Pathan opt out on Sunday night of the delegation led by JDU’s Sanjay Jha, headed for Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore.
Abhishek will be among 51 political delegates in seven teams headed for 33 cities.
Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju — who had unilaterally picked Pathan — called on Mamata on Tuesday in a placatory move when she asked him to include Abhishek, Trinamool’s national general secretary, in the delegation.
An announcement followed soon after on X.
“At a time when the world must unite to confront the growing threat of terrorism, Shri Abhishek Banerjee’s inclusion brings both conviction and clarity to the table,” wrote the TMC in its statement.
“His presence will not only reflect Bengal’s firm stand against terror but also strengthen India’s collective voice on the global stage,” it added, not long before Trinamool state general secretary Kunal Ghosh confirmed the call from Rijiju.
In Delhi for a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs, the Diamond Harbour MP said on Monday that the kin of those killed in the Pahalgam terror attack and those from the armed forces who had actually executed Operation Sindoor would be far better suited to represent the nation in this diplomatic mission, along with the political leaders and diplomats.
The BJP, which was tearing into Mamata on Monday, was largely conspicuous in its silence on Tuesday. However, Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, lambasted the chief minister for running an alleged diarchy in Bengal.
“It is a parivarvadi party, which could not tolerate Yusuf Pathan being selected by the Centre. He was forced to withdraw, and she said her party will not participate unless she is asked to pick the representative. When asked, she immediately named her nephew,” said the BJP’s Nandigram MLA.
Sources in the BJP said they would have gone about publicly shaming the chief minister over the “rank act of nepotism”, had it not involved participation in Prime Minister Modi’s pet diplomatic exercise.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress said there were others in Trinamool better suited for this. “As soon as someone both Modi and Didi like (Abhishek) was agreed on, the friction is a closed chapter,” said Chowdhury.
Questions to Misri
At the external affairs’ standing committee meeting on Monday, Abhishek had asked foreign secretary Vikram Misri two key questions, according to sources.
First, he asked Misri whether India had at all formally protested against US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire before the Centre. Second, Abhishek asked how the terrorists responsible for the attack in Pahalgam had entered Indian territory and executed their mission, whether they have been identified, and where they are now.
The sources said Misri evaded response to the Trump question, and for the other, he said the Union home or defence secretary would be better placed to answer.
Additional reporting by Our Delhi bureau