Iran invites BJP, Congress leaders for Khamenei funeral
Iran has extended invitations to senior leaders from both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress to attend the state funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran next week.
BJP President Nitin Nabin and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, along with senior Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, have been invited to represent the party at the funeral. Sources said Kharge is yet to decide whether he will travel to Tehran, while the Congress is also considering sending a delegation led by a senior leader.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reportedly received a personal invitation from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, is unlikely to attend the ceremony. Official sources indicated that the Prime Minister is expected to skip the funeral due to prior overseas commitments and may instead depute a high-level Indian delegation.
According to sources, the delegation is likely to include Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita and Bihar Governor Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd).
Khamenei, who was killed in a joint US-Israeli strike on the opening day of the conflict in February, will be accorded a state funeral in Tehran beginning July 4.
He is scheduled to be buried in his hometown of Mashhad on July 9.
The funeral, originally planned for March, was postponed because of the continuing conflict in the region.
The Prime Minister’s reported decision not to attend has drawn criticism from opposition leaders, who have alleged that New Delhi is seeking to avoid upsetting its strategic partners, the United States and Israel. The Government has not issued an official statement on the matter.
The development has also triggered discussion among strategic affairs observers, who have compared India’s proposed representation with its response to the death of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in 2024.
Following Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash, then Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar led the Indian delegation to the funeral.
Some analysts have questioned whether the level of representation at Khamenei’s funeral signals a recalibration of India’s engagement with Iran amid shifting geopolitical dynamics in West Asia.
Geopolitical analyst Navroop Singh said the reported decision to include a Governor in the delegation raises questions about the priority being accorded to India’s relationship with Iran. According to Singh, the move suggests New Delhi’s strategic focus has increasingly shifted towards Israel and key Gulf partners.
