Washington, DC [United States], June 5 (ANI): While addressing the Indian diaspora in Washington, DC, BJP MP Shashank Mani emphasized that eliminating fear is crucial to overcoming terrorism and building a citizen-driven path to India's development.

'The core idea of terrorism is to put fear in the minds of people and once fear is eliminated, beautiful things happen... Our path to Viksit Bharat is going to be citizen-driven. We are going to do it from the bottom up.... We are bringing in a bill that will put 33% of women legislators in the Parliament next time... We apologise that this table doesn't have a woman representative... All of this can only happen if there is no fear in the people's minds...' Mani said.

Highlighting the government's commitment to empowering women and citizens at all levels, Mani said removing fear is essential for progress and inclusive governance.

This sentiment resonated deeply with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who recalled the harrowing moment during the recent Pahalgam terror attack when a woman, horrified after witnessing her husband's killing, screamed out -- 'kill me too,' but the terrorists refused and told her to go back and tell the story, underscoring the brutal attempt to instill fear and division that the delegation aims to overcome.

Tharoor underlined the overwhelming and unconditional support India has received from US lawmakers following the attack.

Speaking as part of the all-party Indian parliamentary delegation, Tharoor said the visit's main aim was to share India's ordeal and seek solidarity in the fight against terrorism.

'There's been a very wide, impressive cross-section of legislators who met us, spoken to us. I must say our purpose in coming was actually very simple. Lay out what we've been through in India in the last few weeks, with the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam, and seek understanding and solidarity with us on these measures...' he said.

Describing the nature of engagement, Tharoor added, 'The relationship with India matters to all these people. The strategic partnership is real. We saw it in practice... There are always things going on. In fact, when our meeting was ending at the Senate, they had to rush off to a vote. There's always something going on, but they found the time for us and they engage with us in a very positive and constructive way.'

He also noted the strong bipartisan backing India received, stating, 'We came prepared for much more -- pushback or questions or even some skepticism -- we found none, there has been an unconditional support extended to us in our struggle against terrorism...'

The delegation, led by Tharoor, arrived in the US on Wednesday. It includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, and Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from the BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora.

The visit forms part of India's broader diplomatic outreach under Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. (ANI)