New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who is among the Opposition leaders appointed as chairpersons of Parliamentary Friendship Groups formed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, believes the Centre is making a mockery of him.
“I want to thank the Prime Minister, the home minister and the law minister for appointing me as chairperson of the group, despite knowing that my passport has been seized. Why are you making a mockery of me? I am a Member of Parliament, and this amounts to ridiculing me,” Singh told the media Wednesday.
Announcing the formation of the groups Monday, the Lok Sabha Secretariat had specifically highlighted its effort to involve MPs from across the political spectrum in the initiative to strengthen ties with over 60 countries, with more such committees in the pipeline.
Singh’s name featured prominently in the statement issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. He was named head of the group for the Caribbean countries.
Singh was arrested in the Delhi excise policy case in October 2023 and was granted bail by a Delhi court in April 2024. However, he had to surrender his passport to the court, apart from furnishing a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh.
Among the founding members of the AAP and serving a second term in the Upper House, Singh said he would raise the issue with the Lok Sabha Speaker as well as the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, C.P. Radhakrishnan.
“You have filed multiple cases against me and even sent me to jail. My passport is with the court, and the prime minister, the home minister and the entire country are aware of this. It is not appropriate to insult a fellow Member of Parliament. You could at least have asked the Enforcement Directorate to move an application for the return of my passport before appointing me chairperson of the group,” he added.
Apart from Singh, prominent Opposition leaders such as Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, P. Chidambaram and Gaurav Gogoi; SP’s Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav; DMK’s K. Kanimozhi; TMC’s Derek O’Brien and Abhishek Banerjee; and AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi will chair the parliamentary groups, each comprising 11 members.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat said the idea behind the initiative was to allow lawmakers to speak directly to their counterparts abroad, share legislative experience, build trust through regular engagement, and exchange best practices to further strengthen bilateral relations and promote greater mutual understanding.
“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,” it said in a statement Monday.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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