The Narendra Modi government sent seven all-party delegations, including former diplomats, to 33 countries to project India’s collective resolve against terrorism in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, and Operation Sindoor. While the delegations were meant to “project India’s national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations,” the teams appear to have spent considerable time in meeting members of the Indian diaspora in at least 25 of the 33 countries that they visited – making the visits look like cultural and political outreach. Whether such activities helped the delegations’ original focus on alienating Pakistan internationally or not has therefore become debatable.In these interactions, the delegations delivered speeches laced with rhetoric synonymous with domestic politics, often in Hindi and in a language that is more often associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) whose Hindutva ideology has been tactically used by Pakistan at the global stage to cover up its own history of sponsoring terrorism. Additionally, the teams’ diplomatic focus was often absent. Such was the scale of the teams’ tourism activities that official engagements of these delegations barely received deserving media attention. Many of the delegations received much public glare for their visits to tourist sites, interviews with influencers, singing at dinners, and visits to garba shows.How the delegates wooed domestic constituencies Janata Dal (United) MP Sanjay Kumar Jha who was leading one of the delegations, met YouTuber Lee Yechan or Charlie – who is known as the “Korean Bihari” on social media – in Seoul and shot a video with him.Jha posted an interaction with the YouTuber and wrote on X that the meeting with Charlie, who grew up in Patna was “different and special.” Jha’s colleague in the delegation and in government, BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi, while in Indonesia’s Jakarta, inaugurated a ‘Biju Hall’ at the Indian Embassy and unveiled a commemorative plaque for former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik. She also met members of the Odia community there.Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee who was also a part of this delegation met members of the Jakarta Bengali Association (JABA), in an interaction that his party described as “reflecting his deep commitment to connecting with the Indian diaspora across the world.”Banerjee also visited the memorial of Bengali freedom fighter Rashbehari Bose while in Japan’s Tokyo, along with other members of the delegation. Meanwhile in Spain, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi met members of the Tamil community.Cultural events and tourism site visitsTheir official commitments aside, the delegates appeared to have found enough time to attend cultural events. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor posted pictures of cultural performances held for the delegation in Panama, of which, the parliamentarian said that the “Garba stood out”.BJP MP Rekha Sharma was seen in videos singing at a dinner in Algeria – something which faced criticism on social media including from the Congress. Sharma however, went on to defend herself and said that it “deeply hurts when a genuine moment of diplomacy is twisted for political hate.”“The song loved by Algerians was sung not at a party, but as a gesture of friendship, in a room filled with respect for India. Shameful how Congress stoops and mocks just to score cheap political points,” she said, adding that the video was from Algeria and not Kuwait as the Congress had claimed.The delegations also visited a number of tourist sites in the countries that they visited.For instance, in Algeria, the delegation led by BJP’s Baijayant Panda visited the El Alia Cemetery in Algiers and paid floral tribute to Emir Abdelkader, founder of the modern Algerian state, lit candles in memory of the victims of the Pahalgam attack at the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers and visited the Martyrs’ Memorial, the National Museum of the Moudjahid.In Saudi Arabia, the delegation visited Diriyah, a UNESCO world heritage site. In Bahrain, the delegation visited Bab Al Bahrain, a prominent historical landmark in Manama.In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the delegation led by JD(U)’s Jha visited the Ramakrishna Mission and paid floral tributes to Swami Vivekananda whose statue was inaugurated by Modi in 2015. The delegation also paid floral tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Indian Cultural Centre in Brickfields and visited the Torana Gate –which was gifted by India in 2015 – in Brickfields.In Panama, the delegation led by Tharoor visited the Panama Canal. Tharoor posted photographs calling the canal “truly an engineering marvel a century ago, & still breathtaking to see a giant ship being raised and lowered at one of the locks. Sorry my amateur pix don’t do it justice.”In the UK, the delegation led by BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad visited the Ambedkar Museum. Delegates to Egypt visited the Heliopolis War Memorial in Cairo. In Abu Dhabi, the delegation led by Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, BAPS Hindu Temple and Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara.Also read: When Abroad, NDA Delegates Forced to State the Opposite of Their Exclusionary Politics at HomeIndian diaspora outreachIn their large-scale outreach to the Indian diaspora in the form of receptions that were hosted for such interactions, the delegates focused on making speeches on Pakistan-based terrorism in language laced with a rhetoric that would resonate more with the audience back home.Echoing the BJP’s hyper-nationalist narrative at home, BJP MP Tejashwi Surya told the diaspora audience in the USA that India is ready to do a “hundred Operation Sindoors”.“India does not seek war. We have never sought war in our civilisation. As our delegation leader Shashi Tharoor said We are the land of Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi. But that doesn’t mean that we will remain passive in the face of adharma. If there is cessation of aggression you will have peace but if you attack us, not once, we are ready to do a hundred Operation Sindoors,” he said to loud cheers from the audience.Such interactions with the diaspora were held in at least 25 of the 33 countries including Qatar, Kuwait, Slovenia, Congo, Greece, Italy, Indonesia, Guyana, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, UK, Brussels, Denmark, Malaysia, South Korea, UAE, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Panama, Colombia, USA, Spain, Germany, Latvia and Ethiopia.In Paris, BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya echoed Surya’s tone and spoke in Hindi.“Sindoor ka keemat Pakistan ne chukaya hai (Pakistan has paid for the cost of Sindoor),” he said.Not to be left behind, Jha, an MP of the BJP’s alliance partner in the government JD(U), too spoke in Hindi in Tokyo and mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bihar, just two days after the Pahalgam terror attack. He did not mention that the state is due to go to the polls later this year, and that Modi skipped the all-party meeting on the Pahalgam terror attack on that day to attend the public event, which was incidentally not attended by anyone from Jha’s party either.“The attack took place on 22nd (April). On April 24, the prime minister was in our state. I come from Bihar’s Madhubani, the prime minister’s visit was already scheduled there. There he mentioned clearly, that under ‘new normal’ we will not just give information through phone calls like we used to earlier now the time has come that we will destroy all terrorist camps. We will not touch your civilians. Indian army with precision-not left nor right-directly attacked those terrorist camps,” said Jha in Hindi as applause could be heard from the crowd.Taking a cue from their colleagues in the government, opposition MPs’ speeches too focused on speaking about Pakistan-based terror in a manner that is associated with the BJP.“By staying in our own country our armed forces attacked their terror bases. These bases have not been designated by the people of India but by the United Nations. We are doing the UN’s work by destroying those terror camps,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi in Berlin while referring to the military strikes on nine targets in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.Chaturvedi then went on to refer to the UN Security Council naming Pakistan as the chair of its Taliban Sanctions Committee and vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.“This is like asking Masood Azhar and Hafiz Sayeed being asked to fight for global peace and justice,” she said.Impressing upon the crowd that they too should be enlisted to be a part of this fight against Pakistan, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, while addressing the Indian diaspora in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur, urged the Indian diaspora to save a “photograph of the Pakistani general attending a terrorist’s funeral” to “do their bit”.“I want you to understand, as proud Indian diaspora members and proud Indians you all need to do your bit. We all have seen the pictures of the Pakistani military general attending the funeral of a terrorist,” he said.“But how many of you in this room have that picture saved in your mobile? Can you raise your hand? Out of the 80 or 100 members present in this room, can anyone say that I have this saved in my mobile and I can show it to my friend circle that this is what Pakistan is doing. None of us. This is what we need to change. We need to develop a change in approach,” Banerjee said.