Gaurav Gogoi to Lead India–Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group

Assam Congress president and Jorhat MP Gaurav Gogoi has been appointed as the Chairperson of the newly formed India–Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group. The group aims to promote cooperation, mutual understanding, and institutional collaboration between the two nations.

The appointment comes as part of a broader initiative by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who has constituted Parliamentary Friendship Groups with 64 countries, involving both ruling and opposition party leaders. These groups provide lawmakers a platform to engage directly with their counterparts abroad, facilitating exchanges on governance, trade, security, culture, and regional cooperation.

“The move reflects a conscious effort by the Indian Parliament to deepen dialogue and exchanges with legislatures across continents and to complement traditional diplomacy with sustained parliamentary interaction,” Birla said.

The India–Philippines group is expected to play a key role in expanding bilateral ties in areas such as maritime security, defence, trade, education, and people-to-people exchanges. India and the Philippines have steadily enhanced cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, and this parliamentary initiative is seen as an important instrument of soft diplomacy to reinforce these ties.

Each Parliamentary Friendship Group comprises 11 members, including representatives from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, ensuring cross-party and bicameral participation. Among the prominent leaders heading other friendship groups are Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor (France), P Chidambaram (Italy), K C Venugopal (Portugal), and Manish Tewari (Australia). From the DMK, K Kanimozhi will lead the Greece group, while Trinamool Congress leaders Derek O’Brien and Abhishek Banerjee will chair the Chile and Algeria groups, respectively.

Other key appointments include AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for Oman, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav for Japan, RSP leader N K Premachandran for Madagascar, and AAP’s Sanjay Singh for Caribbean nations. Several suspended MPs from the Opposition, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manickam Tagore, Hibi Eden, and Gurjeet Singh Aujla, have also been included in these friendship groups, signalling that disciplinary actions in Parliament do not bar participation in diplomatic initiatives.

Senior BJP leaders such as Ravi Shankar Prasad, Baijayant Panda, Nishikant Dubey, and Anurag Thakur have also been appointed as chairpersons for key groups, reflecting an attempt to maintain bipartisan engagement in India’s global outreach.

Under Birla’s leadership, the Lok Sabha has increasingly used parliamentary channels to advance India’s international partnerships, complementing executive diplomacy. These friendship groups are expected to facilitate sustained dialogue on trade, technology, social policy, culture, and global challenges faced by democracies today.

By placing Gaurav Gogoi at the helm of the India–Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group, the Indian Parliament has entrusted him with steering legislative engagement with Philippine lawmakers, further strengthening the bilateral relationship at a critical juncture.

This step also comes at a politically sensitive time, as opposition parties had recently planned to move against Speaker Birla over alleged partisan conduct in the House.

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