New Delhi [India], June 11 (ANI): Congress MP Manish Tewari has come in defence of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over the latter's 'Narendra Surrender' jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the diversity of India's domestic discourse is 'strength, not weakness'.

He said that the contesting opinions and narratives set India apart from Pakistan and other totalitarian states. He argued that people in a democracy have the right to articulate their opinions, given the freedom of speech and expression.

'The strength of our democracy is its diversity, and the contesting opinions and narratives distinguish India not only from Pakistan but from a large number of other totalitarian states. The diversity of our domestic discourse is actually a strength, not a weakness. The fact remains that in any democracy, everybody has the freedom of speech and expression, and people have the right to articulate their opinions,' Tewari told ANI.

Speaking about the mission that multi-party delegations were tasked with, the Congress MP said that the delegations were able to put Pakistan in the dock of international public opinion.

'The objective of this mission was clearly to put Pakistan in the dock of international public opinion, and to that extent, the various delegations that fanned out across the world have been able to plant that seed,' Tewari asserted.

Talking about his delegation's meeting with the Prime Minister, the Congress MP emphasised that it was an informal and freewheeling conversation.

'It was an informal interaction, and the members of various delegations shared their impressions with the Prime Minister, who heard everybody out. He conveyed his own impressions. On the whole, it was an informal and freewheeling conversation. Most importantly, everybody was able to share the inputs they had collected across various nations. It was a holistic and comprehensive conversation,' Tewari said.

Furthermore, Manish Tewari asserted that this initiative (sending delegations abroad) would help proscribe all states that use terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

'Certain seeds have been planted by various delegations across the world. Now, it is for the foreign office to build on this initiative and to take it to the next level to proscribe Pakistan, which is a state sponsor of terror on the global stage. On the whole, the visits laid the foundation for forming an international coalition against state sponsorship of terror. This is an initiative, if taken to a logical conclusion, would definitely help in proscribing all those states which use terrorism as an instrument of state policy,' the Congress MP said.

Tewari was part of a multi-party delegation led by Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) or NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule. The delegation visited Egypt, Qatar, Ethiopia, and South Africa as part of India's Operation Sindoor global outreach.

Apart from Sule and Tewari, the delegation had members including Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP), Vikramjit Singh Sahney (AAP, Anurag Singh Thakur (BJP), Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu (TDP), Anand Sharma (Congress), V Muraleedharan (BJP), and former diplomat Syed Akbaruddin. (ANI)