Bihar Governor Hasnain and Minister of State Margherita likely to represent India at Khamenei’s funeral

Bihar Governor Lt. General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) and Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita are likely to lead the Indian delegation that will travel to Iran for the funeral ceremonies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sources familiar with the plans told The Hindu. The final composition of the delegation is yet to be firmed up, officials here said.

Khamenei was killed in Israeli strikes on February 28, when the joint U.S.-Israeli operation began.

Last week, President Masoud Pezeshkian had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the burial-related ceremonies in Iran. However, it is understood that Mr. Modi has prior commitments to travel to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand from July 6 to 11.

The Indian delegation will be among a large group of foreign dignitaries that have been invited by Tehran for the burial-related events, which will start from July 3 and will continue till July 9. Diplomatic sources had told The Hindu earlier that while the ceremonies will take place in capital Tehran and the holy city of Qom, the burial will take place in Mashhad, a famous pilgrimage centre, in northeast Iran. The choice of Mashhad for burial indicates the high stature that he had been accorded after his assassination.

‘Big opportunity’

The choice of Governor Hasnain and MoS Margherita has drawn criticism from veteran diplomats here. Talmiz Ahmad, India’s former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, has said that he is “deeply disappointed” by the choice of the delegation. “This is not the appropriate representation, given the high stature of the person concerned. Ayatollah Khamenei is held in very high regard in India. He has met all the Prime Ministers of the past four decades, including our present Prime Minister who met him when he visited Iran in May 2016,” said Mr. Ahmad, while referring to the changes sweeping the region that require India to make its diplomatic moves carefully.

Commentators here described the funeral in Tehran as a “big opportunity” for India to restructure its West Asia policy. They said that the choice of the delegation indicated that India had not recognised the importance of the event.

India’s then Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar had represented the government at the funeral of President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran in May 2024, after he died in a helicopter crash.

The Hindu had earlier reported, citing Iranian officials, that Ali Khamenei had attained the status of a martyr in the previous four months. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh, who visited Delhi in the first week of March, had said that a “cult of Khamenei” has been born in Iran. Subsequently, in a phone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Pezeshkian had referred to Ali Khamenei as the ‘Leader of the Islamic Revolution’ of Iran. “The martyred leader, in addition to his political leadership, was also the spiritual leader of Muslims around the world,” said Mr. Pezeshkian, indicating that Khamenei’s influence cut across the Shia-Sunni divide in Islam.