Mango Diplomacy: Pakistan High Commission Sends Mangoes to Opp’n MPs Including Rahul Gandhi

 New Delhi: Pakistan High Commission in Delhi sent cartons of mangoes to 7 Indian members of parliamentarians including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday.

As part of a diplomatic gesture, the recipients included LOP Rahul Gandhi, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor, Samajwadi Parliamentarian from Rampur Mohibbullah Nadvi, SP Parliamentarial Zia Ur Rehman Barg, Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari, and SP Parliamentarian from Kairana Iqra Hasan.  

Mangoes have long been used as a tool of diplomacy.  Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been sending mangoes to her Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, almost every year since he assumed office. Additionally, she has sent mangoes to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the past.

MEA files reveal that India also employed this form of diplomacy with China in the 1950s, before the Indo-China war.