Yusuf Pathan drops out of anti-terror outreach team; TMC blames Centre

Cricketer-turned-politician and TMC MP Yusuf Pathan on Monday (May 19) withdrew his name from the all-party delegation that will visit international capitals disseminating India’s stance on Operation Sindoor across the globe.

With this the TMC has become the only Opposition party so far to withdraw its MP from the delegation, objecting to the way the government directly nominated a TMC MP without consulting the party.

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West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said, “The government never informed us about the delegation visit. They only informed the parliamentary party. No request came to us, else we would have supported the plan...They cannot decide the name of the members by themselves.”

'Not for govt to decide'

Speaking to the media at the Kolkata airport on Monday, TMC national general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee said, “How can the Union government decide on the representative of Trinamool? They should have held discussions with the Opposition to decide which representative a party will send. How can the BJP decide which representative Trinamool will send? Trinamool is the only party which has not politicised the matter of national security.”

However, Banerjee affirmed the party’s support for the Centre in its anti-terrorism efforts. “I believe that whatever decision the Union government takes — if it aims at combating and curbing terrorism, safeguarding the sovereignty of the nation and protecting the national interest — we, as a party, will stand with the Centre shoulder to shoulder. But if there is a multi-party delegation going, it will be for the individual party to decide its representatives,” he said before leaving for Delhi.

“The Centre cannot unilaterally decide who will represent which party. This has to be decided by the respective party leadership. If you ask for one representative, we will give you five names. But the Centre also needs to show its good intent and call for a wider deliberation with all parties in the opposition,” he added.

TMC not consulted

Meanwhile, according to a TMC leader, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju had first approached TMC's Lok Sabha floor leader Sudip Bandopadhyay to join the delegation. He politely refused it, citing health issues. Subsequently, the government went ahead and announced Yusuf Pathan’s name without consulting any other TMC leader.

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Pathan was a member of the delegation led by JDU MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, which was scheduled to visit countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Singapore. The all-party parliamentary delegations will visit 30 countries to highlight India’s zero-tolerance policy on terrorism. The initiative has been titled ‘One Mission, One Message, One Bharat’.

Pathan is the first-time MP from Baharampur where he defeated Congress heavyweight Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.