LS SPEAKER CONSTITUTES PARLIAMENTARY FRIENDSHIP GROUPS WITH MORE THAN 60 COUNTRIES
MORE THAN 60 NATIONS, ONE VISION: LOK SABHA SPEAKER’S FAR-REACHING STEP TOWARD FURTHER STRENGTHENING INTER-PARLIAMENTARY TIES
BEYOND PARTY LINES: INDIA’S PARLIAMENTARY OUTREACH IS POWERED BY A BROAD-BASED COALITION OF LEADERS, SHOWCASING THE DEPTH OF INDIA’S DEMOCRACY
SPEAKER APPOINTS FLOOR LEADERS FROM VARIOUS PARTIES TO FRIENDSHIP GROUPS, PROJECTING THE MULTI-FACETED DIMENSIONS OF INDIAN DEMOCRACY TO MORE THAN 60 NATIONS
BUILDING ON THE PRIME MINISTER’S POST-OPERATION SINDOOR MULTI-PARTY OUTREACH, LS SPEAKER INSTITUTIONALISES INDIA’S PARLIAMENTARY FRIENDSHIP GROUPS GLOBALLY
STRENGTHENING GLOBAL BONDS, THE FIRST PHASE SEES FRIENDSHIP GROUPS WITH OVER 60 NATIONS, WITH MANY MORE COUNTRIES TO FOLLOW
New Delhi: In a significant step to widen India’s inter- parliamentary engagement with the world, Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla has constituted Parliamentary Friendship Groups with more than 60 countries. The move reflects a conscious effort by the Indian Parliament to deepen dialogue and exchanges with legislatures across continents and to complement traditional diplomacy with sustained parliamentary interaction.
The Friendship Groups bring together Members of Parliament from across the political spectrum. Senior leaders including Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dr M. Thambidurai, Shri P. Chidambaram, Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav, Shri T.R. Baalu, Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Shri Gaurav Gogoi, Smt. Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Shri Manish Tiwari, Shri Derek O’Brien, Shri Abhishek Banerjee, Shri Asaduddin Owaisi, Shri Akhilesh Yadav, Shri K.C. Venugopal, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Smt. Supriya Sule, Shri Sanjay Singh, Shri Baijayant Panda, Dr Shashi Tharoor, Dr Nishikant Dubey, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, Smt. Dr D. Purandeswari, Shri Sanjay Kumar Jha, Smt. Hema Malini, Shri Biplab Kumar Deb, Dr Sudhanshu Trivedi, Shri Jagdambika Pal, Dr Sasmit Patra, Smt. Aparajita Sarangi, Shri Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Shri P.V. Midhun Reddy and Shri Praful Patel, among others, will lead these groups.
Some of the countries with whom Parliamentary Friendship Groups have been constituted include Sri Lanka, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, South Africa, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Maldives, USA, Russia, EU Parliament, South Korea, Nepal, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Oman, Australia, Greece, Singapore, Brazil, Vietnam, Mexico, Iran and UAE.
The idea behind the initiative is to allow lawmakers to speak directly to their counterparts abroad, share legislative experience, and build trust through regular engagement and exchange best practices to further strengthen bilateral relations and promote greater mutual understanding. Beyond parliamentary procedure, the groups are expected to facilitate conversations on trade, technology, social policy, culture, and global challenges that democracies face today.
Speaker Shri Om Birla has consistently emphasized the role of parliamentary diplomacy in strengthening India’s global standing. Under his stewardship, Parliament has taken a more active role in international forums, projecting India not only as a political power but as a confident and mature democracy willing to engage, listen, and collaborate.
By prioritizing Parliament-to-Parliament and people-to-people connections, this initiative signals a more participatory approach to foreign engagement. The Friendship Groups will enable structured exchanges through dialogues, study visits, and joint discussions, helping to sustain long-term cooperation rooted in democratic values. In doing so, the Indian Parliament reinforces its role as a bridge between nations and as a living reflection of the world’s largest democracy.
It is important to recall that Post – Operation Sindoor, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, took the initiative to send multi-party delegations to various countries to convey India’s point of view. By bringing together leaders from different political parties and ideologies to represent India on the global stage, the initiative rose above partisan boundaries and underscored a powerful message: when it comes to the nation’s security and interests, India stands united. The move demonstrated faith in dialogue, inclusiveness, and collective responsibility – core strengths of India’s democracy. It showed that on matters of national interest, India speaks in one voice. The decision of the Lok Sabha Speaker to form friendship groups with more than 60 countries is an important step in this direction.
While friendship groups have been constituted with more than 60 countries in the first phase, efforts are being made to constitute these groups with many more countries in the near future.
