An all-party delegation led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ravi Shankar Prasad paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Tavistock Square in London as it arrived for the UK leg of its Europe tour this week.
"It is a matter of pride for us, here in the heart of London, before the great statue of Mahatma Gandhi. We have come to pay our respects, offer flowers to his statue," said Prasad.
The group which has covered France, Italy and Denmark, arrived in the UK for an interaction with community groups, think tanks and UK parliamentarians including British Indian Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said: “We went to Ambedkar Ji's memorial and paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. They are as much relevant as our country's thinking, ideology, Constitution, and peaceful stance. Our country has never been aggressive toward any other country.
“But there has come a time when someone else works against us, then our constitution gives us strength and power to counter that, and Mahatma Gandhi has shown us that way.
"So, we started this visit with a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. We have come here to talk about how India and Pakistan were partitioned in 1947, one adopted a Constitution, the other adopted 'aatankistan' (terrorism). We have come here to explain the difference and tell here especially since the partition took place under British rule."
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Following the tributes, the nine-member delegation led by Prasad and comprising MPs Daggubati Purandeswari, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Ghulam Ali Khatana, Amar Singh, Samik Bhattacharya, M. Thambidurai and former Union minister of state M.J. Akbar and Ambassador Pankaj Saran addressed a large diaspora gathering at India House in London.
The delegation is one of seven groups on an international outreach mission in the wake of Operation Sindoor following the brutal Pahalgam terrorist attacks in Kashmir. At the diaspora gathering, Prasad described the Indian community leaders as “ambassadors” who will spread the message of India’s zero tolerance stance on terrorism.
An official statement issued by the High Commission of India in London noted that the all-party delegation comprising former ministers, members of Parliament and a former Ambassador is on a mission to convey India’s “unequivocal commitment to defeat terrorism”.
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“During their course of stay in the UK, the delegation will meet Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle; FCDO Minister for Indo-Pacific, Catherine West MP; members of both House of the UK Parliament; and important representatives from media, think tanks and Indian diaspora,” the statement added.
(*With ANI Inputs)
