Delegations of M.Ps to Visit Foreign Countries.

Summary

In this two-page letter dated 17 November 1965, N. Dandekar explains the Swatantra Party Central Parliamentary Board’s decision to advise its Members of Parliament not to join delegations visiting foreign countries to explain India’s position after the recent Indo-Pakistan hostilities, particularly on Kashmir. He distinguishes these delegations from other possible parliamentary visits and argues that explaining India’s foreign policy is properly the function of the Indian Foreign Service.

Dandekar contends that parliamentary participation could create confusion, leave delegates without the information needed to answer organised or false Pakistani propaganda, and undermine India’s ambassadors and high commissioners by diminishing their local status and authority. He also stresses that the party’s Kashmir position differs materially from that of other parties, while delegation leaders might require MPs to follow a line they had not fully discussed. In his view, such visits would therefore produce “the loss of very valuable foreign exchange” without sufficient diplomatic justification.

Key points

• The Central Parliamentary Board’s decision concerned delegations intended to explain India’s position on the Indo-Pakistan hostilities and Kashmir.
• Dandekar assigns the explanation of India’s foreign policy to the Indian Foreign Service.
• He argues that MPs abroad may lack the information needed to counter Pakistani propaganda.
• He warns that parliamentary delegations could weaken the standing and competence of India’s ambassadors and high commissioners.
• The Swatantra Party’s Kashmir position is described as materially different from that of other parties.
• Dandekar argues that MPs on a delegation would have to follow the delegation leader’s line, potentially without full consultation.
• The letter concludes that these delegations would waste valuable foreign exchange.