'Meeting Govt Officials in New York Was Never on the Cards': Delegation Member

'We will meet US officials in Washington DC in the final leg of our tour,' Sarfaraz Ahmad said in an exclusive chat.

The Shashi Tharoor-led delegation in Panama on 28 May. 

(Photo Courtesy: X/Shashi Tharoor) 

The Indian delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, currently in Brazil as part of the Indian government's outreach in the wake of Operation Sindoor, will be landing in Washington DC on Tuesday, 3 June, to conduct meetings with US government officials, Sarfaraz Ahmad, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MP and one of the members of the delegation, confirmed to The Quint.

The Tharoor-led delegation had started their tour with New York on 25 May and paid visits to Guyana, Panama, and Colombia before reaching Brazil on 1 June.

"Today [2 June] is our last day in Brazil. We have meetings from 9 am, with the last one at 5:15 pm with the country's vice president. We've kept our luggage packed and ready in the hotel as we won't be going back there. After our last meeting, we will go to the airport directly to board our flight to Washington DC," Ahmad said.

Apart from Tharoor and Ahmad, the delegation includes LJP (Ram Vilas) MP Shambhavi Choudhary, TDP MP GM Harish Balayogi, BJP MP Shashank Mani Tripathi, BJP MP Bhubaneswar Kalita, Shiv Sena MP Milind Murli Deora, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, and former Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

Itinerary in Washington DC

Ahmad said that the delegation has meetings lined up with several US officials, including members of the government. However, when asked whether meetings with senior government officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Vice President JD Vance were on the cards, he said he could not furnish names as the Indian Embassy in Washington is currently preparing the schedule for their visit.

"We will be conducting meetings with members of the US government, US Congress as well as members of the Indian diaspora in Washington," he told The Quint.

The confirmation comes amid several questions being raised as to why the delegation did not hold meetings with officials in New York. Speculation was rife that it had something to do with US President Donald Trump's claim earlier in May that he helped mediate a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, thus preventing a "nuclear conflict".

However, Ahmad dispelled the rumours, saying that meetings with officials in New York were never on the cards.

"At the beginning of our trip we were merely transiting through New York on our way to South America," he said. "Also, US officials mostly live in Washington DC, not New York."

He further went on to say that if indeed there was a rift between India and the US, then their travel itinerary in South America would have been impacted as well.

"Several countries in Latin America are pro-US. So if that were the case, then the US would have asked officials in those countries not to meet Indian officials, but we have been conducting dozens of meetings with them."

Sarfaraz Ahmad

When asked about how receptive the host countries have been to the Indian delegations' visits, Ahmad said that the response so far was quite positive.

"It has been a good response. Guyana was wonderful... there are so many Indians there. Panama was good, too, as were Colombia and Brazil," he said.

"All of these countries are completely against terrorism. They have gone through it themselves in Brazil and Panama etc. We conveyed to them that what Pakistan has been doing is morally incorrect."

Sarfaraz Ahmad

While announcing the names of members joining the Operation Sindoor outreach, the government had stated that the Tharoor-led delegation (Group 5) would be visiting the US, without mentioning whether the capital was on the cards.

(Photo Courtesy: X/Kiren Rijiju) 

What Did the Delegation Do in New York? 

Following their arrival in New York—the Group 5 delegation's first stop—on 25 May, the members visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York to pay homage to the thousands of people who were killed when three hijacked aircraft crashed into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001.

Addressing a press conference following the visit, Tharoor said it was a "very moving moment" to be present there, but the visit was also a means to "send a message".

"It was obviously a very moving moment for us, but it was also meant to send a very strong message that we are here in a city which is bearing still the scars of that savage terrorist attack in the wake of yet another terrorist attack in our own country... unlike the US, I am afraid we have had to endure a much larger number of terrorist attacks in India," Tharoor said.

"We came both as a reminder that this is a shared problem, but also out of a spirit of solidarity with the victims, who included Indians...it is a global problem, it's a scourge, we must fight it unitedly," the Congress MP went on to say.

Following the presser that was attended by "think tanks, academic leaders, and media in New York", the delegation had left from New York for Guyana the following day, on 26 May.