“Discussions were outstanding…” Shashi Tharoor hails ‘outstanding’ defence-focused committee meet

New Delhi June 17, 2025 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor praised the depth and seriousness of a Parliamentary Committee meeting on India’s Indian Ocean Strategy, highlighting its strong defence focus. With senior officials like the Defence Secretary, Vice Chief of the Navy, and MEA’s Secretary East in attendance, members engaged in over two and a half hours of detailed discussion. Tharoor noted the committee’s active participation, discussing key issues such as the Blue Water Navy and India’s maritime capabilities. While Operation Sindoor wasn’t formally addressed, related defence concerns surfaced. A comprehensive report will soon be submitted to Parliament.As the Parliamentary Committee meeting on external affairs concludes, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, "We had an ongoing subject called India's Indian Ocean Strategy, which is a foreign policy subject that has important defence dimensions. We also had the Defence Secretary and the Navy present to brief us. The discussions were outstanding. We spent more than two and a half hours in serious conversation on various aspects, which you will see in the report submitted to Parliament. We were blessed to have the Vice Chief of the Navy, the Defence Secretary, and the Secretary East of the Ministry of External Affairs. It was a very thorough discussion. Every single one of the committee members present asked questions... It's a tremendous sense of involvement in this discussion. We'll have a good report coming out of this very comprehensive discussion... All of this (Blue Water Navy) was discussed... The whole idea of the Blue Water Navy, our military capacity beyond that, everything was thoroughly discussed. Operation Sindoor was not discussed, but some of the elements that became apparent during that confrontation came up in conversations..."