Speaker's Parliamentary Friendship Groups put Congress MPs in a bind

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision to constitute Parliamentary Friendship Groups to “deepen legislative dialogue” and “strengthen structured Parliament-to-Parliament cooperation” with 64 foreign countries has put the Congress party in a spot.

The 64 groups constituted by Birla include Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from across the political spectrum; an en core of the multi-party delegations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had sent to nearly 50 countries in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor last year. But, just as Modi’s outreach initiative had triggered a political storm back home for a variety of reasons, a storm is brewing over Birla’s Friendship Groups as well.

MPs feel something amiss

Multiple Congress MPs The Federal spoke to said the timing of Birla’s “sudden decision” was suspect as it comes a fortnight ahead of Parliament reconvening for the Budget Session after recess when Lok Sabha will is expected to take up a motion, initiated at the Congress’s behest and signed by Opposition MPs, seeking the removal of the Lok Sabha Speaker on grounds that include his “brazenly partisan” conduct of the House proceedings.

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“As soon as the notice for the motion was submitted by us, he (Birla) had stopped presiding over House proceedings and stories were conveniently planted in the media about how he will resume his role only after the motion is debated in the House. Parliamentary Affairs minister (Kiren Rijiju) has said the motion will be discussed on March 9, the opening day of the session after the recess period. In the middle of this, the Speaker has set up these multi-party groups to show how he acts in a bipartisan and fair manner. You can rest assured that the BJP will use this to attack the Congress when the motion is taken up for discussion; they will ask if a partisan Speaker would have taken such a historic step of sending all MPs, irrespective of party affiliations, to represent India abroad,” a senior Rajya Sabha MP of the Congress said.

No official communication

It is, thus, not lost on any MP from the Congress, or indeed the Opposition’s wider INDIA Bloc, why the Lok Sabha Secretariat’s statement announcing Birla’s decision stressed that the move reflects “the inclusive, representative and pluralistic character of Indian democracy” and how “leaders from multiple parties will head these Groups, projecting a united and confident democratic voice on the global stage”.

I am in my constituency; I am learning from you that my name is there and I don’t know what to say because neither did I volunteer for the group nor was my consent taken

It is, however, not just the decision per se that has got the Congress in a bind. The party’s lack of an official reaction from the party’s communications department to the Speaker’s decision is also being attributed to how “cleverly” at least two of these 64 groups have been constituted and the distinctly varied political implications of both.

The first is the 11-member group that Birla has constituted for visiting the Philippines. This group, which includes the Kriti Devi Debbarman, Bhojraj Nag, Ananta Nayak, Dhairyashil Patil (all from the BJP), JMM’s Nalin Soren, DMK’s Rani Srikumar, TDP’s D Prasada Rao, Congress’ Jothimani and Independent MP Kartikeya Sharma, will be headed by Gaurav Gogoi, the Congress’ deputy leader in the Lok Sabha and the party’s Assam unit chief.

Gogoi decision cheers Assam

Birla’s decision to appoint Gogoi as leader of the Parliamentary Friendship Group bound for the Philippines has generatedmuch-needed euphoria among Congress leaders from Assam, the BJP-ruled state scheduled to go to polls in March-April. The Congress’ Assam unit has latched on to Gogoi’s appointment to slam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for the barrage of allegations that the latter has been making about the Kaziranga MP’s “links with Pakistan”.

Soon after Rijiju posted the composition of the various Parliamentary Friendship Groups on X on Tuesday (February 24), the Assam Congress also took to X to share a letter sent by the Lok Sabha Secretariat to Gogoi informing him about his latest assignment. The accompanying text with the Assam Congress’ X post read: “Shri Gaurav Gogoi ji has been nominated as the President of the 'India–Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group' by the Hon’ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha. This comes at a time when the Assam Chief Minister is running a malicious campaign against our leader — even going so far as to call him a “Pakistani agent” (an allegation that Himanta Biswa Sarma himself punctured during the “historic” 8th February Super FLOP press conference). The people of Assam will give an appropriate answer to the Chief Minister in due course of time. Until then, the truth will continue to haunt him!” (sic).

Gogoi yet to comment

While Gogoi has personally refrained from commenting on the responsibility bestowed upon him by the Speaker, Assam Congress spokesperson Reetam Singh said, “This appointment, made under the authority of the Parliament of India, constitutes a direct and unequivocal vindication of Gaurav Gogoi’s integrity and parliamentary standing. It clearly demonstrates that the baseless allegations of any Pakistani links levelled against him by Biswa Sarma have no substance.”

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“The decision underscores the confidence reposed in Gogoi by the highest legislative institution of the country” Singh said, adding that the task assigned by the Lok Sabha Speaker to the Assam Congress chief was “a fitting recognition of his dedication to national service and parliamentary diplomacy.”

Israel delegation is tricky for Congress

While the Assam Congress is obviously buoyed by Birla’s decision, the Congress has been left tongue-tied in poll-bound Kerala – and elsewhere – over the Speaker’s decision to appoint three Congress MPs to the Parliamentary Friendship Group scheduled to visit Israel.

To be led by veteran BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, the group bound for Israel comprises Congress’ Vatakara MP Shafi Parambil, Mayiladuthurai MP R Sudha and senior Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil, aside from actor-politician Kamal Hassan, Samajwadi Party’s Neeraj Maurya, JD-U’s Sunil Kumar and the BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat, CN Manjunath, Basavaraj Bommai, and Banshilal Gurjar.

This appointment, made under the authority of the Parliament of India, constitutes a direct and unequivocal vindication of Gaurav Gogoi’s integrity and parliamentary standing. It clearly demonstrates that the baseless allegations of any Pakistani links levelled against him by Biswa Sarma have no substance

The Congress, said sources, is “seriously considering” asking its three MPs on the Israel-bound group to “either recuse themselves or ask the Speaker to nominate them to a group heading to any other country aside from Israel”. The reason for the Congress’ consternation is obvious – the party, and particularly Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi, have publicly and repeatedly slammed Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and questioned the Modi regime’s silence on the issue; dubbing it a tacit endorsement of the killings.

In fact, hours before Rijiju made the composition of the various Parliamentary Friendship Groups public, Congress’ communications chief Jairam Ramesh had posted on X: “Israel’s dispossession and displacement of thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has intensified and drawn worldwide condemnation. Israel’s attacks on civilians in Gaza continue mercilessly. Israel and the US are planning air assaults on Iran.”

With the Prime Minister scheduled to leave on yet another official visit to Israel on Wednesday (February 25) Ramesh said, the Modi government “makes cynical and hypocritical statements on its commitment to the cause of the Palestinians” while “in reality” it has “abandoned them, forgetting that India was amongst the earliest countries to recognise the state of Palestine way back on November 18, 1988.”

No Left MP bound for Israel

With the Israel-bound Parliamentary Friendship Group having no MP from the Left parties, which were among the first Opposition parties in India to unequivocally condemn Israel as a “rogue nation” and dub Netanyahu as a “war criminal”, the Congress also realises that allowing its MPs to join the Israel-bound group would play out disastrously for the party back home, especially in Kerala which goes to polls alongside Assam, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in a month’s time and where the excesses by Israel against the Palestinians is an emotive issue among a sizeable chunk of the electorate, particularly the Muslims.

Party will decide, says MP

While the Congress is yet to declare its position on whether or not it would allow its MPs to join the group headed to Israel, one of the party MPs assigned to the group told The Federal, “I am in my constituency; I am learning from you that my name is there and I don’t know what to say because neither did I volunteer for the group nor was my consent taken... whether I will go or not is not for me to decide; I will ask my party leadership for instructions.''

I don’t think the question of going to Israel as part of any friendship group even arises but I will still seek directions from our high command

Another Congress MP included in the Israel group said, “It would not be right for me to comment on this because frankly, I have not been officially informed by the Speaker, the Lok Sabha Secretariat or the Parliamentary Affairs Minister about my inclusion. I have only seen media reports about my name being included but unless I have an official intimation, I cannot comment officially.”

“The position of our party on what Israel has been doing in Gaza; the cold-blooded killings of women and children and innocent Palestinian citizens... all of you know. Priyankaji has repeatedly raised the issue; Rahulji also and today Jairam Ramesh has also made our position on Israel clear. So I don’t think the question of going to Israel as part of any friendship group even arises but I will still seek directions from our high command and will inform the Lok Sabha Speaker and then the media,” the MP added.