সন্ত্রাসের পাক-যোগ ! সংসদীয় প্রতিনিধি দলের মাথায় শশীকে বসাল কেন্দ্র, তালিকায় ছিলেন না; বলল কংগ্রেস

ETVBHARAT

সন্ত্রাসবাদকে মদত জুগিয়েছে পাকিস্তান - বিশ্বের বিভিন্ন দেশে গিয়ে সেই বার্তাই দেবেন সাংসদরা ৷ সাতটি দলের একটির মাথায় আছেন শশী ৷

Transcript

00:00As I mentioned, it's a very great honor.

00:05As a citizen being called upon to serve the nation at a time of crisis is a matter of

00:11a duty for all of us, at the same time for me it is an honor that I've been asked to

00:16lead the delegation, and I look forward very much to playing my part.

00:21I've always said that when my services are required by the nation, I should not be found

00:27wanting, and I had no hesitation in accepting the kind invitation of the government, which

00:33to my mind is nothing to do with politics and everything to do with our country's national

00:39interests.

00:40National interests in my mind are always above everything else.

00:44As I've said, the party is completely entitled to its opinion, clearly this being a government

00:51delegation, the government had its own opinion as to who they felt appropriate.

00:56And I'm very, I must say, unaware of any further contacts between the government and my party,

01:05and I think you should ask those concerns.

01:06As far as I'm concerned, I was asked, both in my capacity as a chairman of a parliamentary

01:15standing committee dealing with these issues, but also because I have very kindly the minister

01:20talked about my personal experience over the years in international affairs and the need

01:25for that experience and such knowledge as I may, such talents as I may possess, to be put

01:30to the service of the nation at this time.

01:33And I found that an absolutely essential, what can I say, answer to give that certainly when

01:41the nation needs my services, I am available and I'm available for my country.

01:46To my mind, this has nothing to do with party politics.

01:51It's all to do with what our country has been through in recent times and the need for us to

01:58present a united front. As I recall, and I may be wrong because I was neither in India nor in Indian

02:03politics at that time, a similar set of delegations were sent by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to various

02:10regions of the world after the 2008 terror attacks. So this is not unprecedented and it is certainly

02:16something which, to my mind, is a good reflection of national unity at a time when unity is important.

02:23Look, I mean, my party or my party leadership is entitled to its opinion of my abilities or lack thereof,

02:30and I think that is really for them to explain. I have absolutely no comment to make on that.

02:37I am honored to have been entrusted with the responsibility and I will fulfill that responsibility just as I have

02:45fulfilled every responsibility entrusted to me in my rather long working life, whether at the United Nations or in

02:52the Congress party. I have fulfilled every task given to me with sincerity and commitment,

02:59and I intend to bring the same qualities to bear in my service in this particular mission.

03:05We are not talking about, you know, it's a 10-day affair. I'll be going to Delhi. In any case,

03:11we have a parliamentary standing committee meeting on Monday and Tuesday on various issues, including

03:15on this particular issue. I'm assuming that I will get further details of the mission after going there,

03:21and we expect, I'm sure the delegation will get briefings from the Ministry of External Affairs,

03:27and we will proceed on that basis. I mean, I think that right now the focus is on a job of work that

03:34needs to be done for the country, and I am truly honored to have been asked, and I will give my very

03:40best as I always try to do. Yes, indeed. No, I certainly informed them of the first call I got, which was two days ago,

03:47and I also mentioned to the minister who called me, who was a parliamentary affairs minister,

03:52that I assumed that he would be talking to the party leaderships of opposition parties, and he

03:57assured me that he would be. He also let me know that I was not the only one he was calling. There are

04:03other opposition MPs that he was calling, and I found it entirely appropriate, as I said, that the country

04:10should rally together on this particularly important issue, and now that I've been entrusted with the

04:16task of leading one of the delegations, I intend to give it my best shot. The party has my telephone

04:21number, and they can call me anytime they like. I don't think there's any difficulty there. So as far

04:27as I'm concerned, I don't really see any communication gap. Sometimes one learns about certain statements from

04:34the media. That may mean that we have other means of communication as well, but I don't think there's a

04:40particular gap that I'm particularly worried about.

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