‘Dishonest’ vs ‘nationalist’: Shashi Tharoor triggers another Congress-BJP slugfest | India News

NEW DELHI: Is Shashi Tharoor prioritising nationwide curiosity over celebration curiosity as nation’s international envoy or is he being a “tremendous spokesperson of the BJP“? The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who’s main one of many 7 multi-party delegations to reveal Pakistan publish Pahalgam terror assault, is as soon as once more in his celebration’s crosshairs – this time for his comment that “India breached the Line of Control (Loc) for the first time during the 2016 surgical strike on a terror base.“As anticipated, Congress rebuttal to this declare has been sharp and powerful. The celebration cited an previous assertion of S Jaishankar to counter Tharoor’s remarks. Senior Congress chief Pawan Khera posted on X a comment made by Jaishankar to the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs in October 2016. Khera claimed that Jaishankar had then mentioned: “Professionally completed, target-specific, limited-calibre counter-terrorist operations have been carried out throughout the LoC up to now too, however that is for the primary time that the federal government has made it public.” Drifting asideTharoor and Congress, who have been at loggerheads for sometime now, seem to be fast drifting apart. What started in February as Tharoor’s surprise one-off praise for PM Modi’s US visit has slowly but surely evolved into a full blown controversy with the Congress leader making several statements in praise of NDA government’s diplomacy initiatives and especially its handling of events post the Pahalgam terror attack. The latest controversy erupted after Tharoor, during his visit to Panama, said that in recent years, India’s stance on terrorism had changed and that terrorists now understand they will face consequences for their actions.“What has modified in recent times is that the terrorists have additionally realised they’ll have a value to pay; on that, let there be little doubt. When, for the primary time, India breached the Line of Control between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launch pad – the Uri strike in September 2016. That was already one thing we had not completed earlier than. Even in the course of the Kargil War, we had not crossed the Line of Control; in Uri, we did, after which got here the assault in Pulwama in January 2019. This time, we crossed not solely the Line of Control but additionally the worldwide border, and we struck the terrorist headquarters in Balakot. This time, we’ve got gone past each of these. We haven’t solely gone past the Line of Control and the worldwide border. We have struck on the Punjabi heartland of Pakistan by hitting terror bases, coaching centres, and terror headquarters in 9 locations,” Tharoor had said.This evoked a sharp retort from the Congress. Udit Raj, who has been leading the charge against Tharoor, took to social media to slam the Thiruvananthapuram MP. “How may you denigrate the golden historical past of Congress by saying that earlier than PM Modi, India by no means crossed LOC and the International border. In 1965 the Indian Army entered Pakistan at a number of factors, which fully shocked the Pakistanis within the Lahore sector. In 1971, India tore Pakistan into two items and in the course of the UPA authorities, a number of surgical strikes have been unleashed, however drum beating was not completed to encash it politically. How may you be so dishonest to the celebration which gave you a lot?” the Congress leader wrote on X.Pawan Khera also targeted Tharoor and tagged him on an old interview of Manmohan Singh – in which the former Prime Minister had claimed that at least 6 surgical strikes were carried out against Pakistan during the UPA regime. The Congress had in May 2019 released a list of six UPA-era “surgical strikes” which included Bhattal sector in Poonch (June 19, 2008); Sharda sector, across Neelam River Valley, in Kel (August 30-September 1, 2011); Sawan Patra checkpost (January 6, 2013); Nazapir sector (July 27-28, 2013); Neelam Valley (August 6, 2013); and one on December 23, 2013.” The BJP, which had then referred to as these claims fraudulent, got here to Tharoor’s defence and slammed the Congress for attacking a “nationalist” chief inside its ranks.BJP nationwide spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged the Congress has deployed Udit Raj to assault Tharoor on the behest of Rahul Gandhi at a time when a multi-party Indian delegation, led by the Congress MP, is overseas to reveal Pakistan on the worldwide discussion board.BJP chief Ajay Alok mentioned, “There are two gangs inside Congress – one is the ‘Gangs of Rahul Gandhi,’ much like ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, and the opposite is the nationalist group with leaders like Shashi Tharoor and P Chidambaram. Today, the Gangs of Gandhi are behaving just like the Gangs of Wasseypur. Congress has fully misplaced its psychological stability.”Who is guilty for this divide?Former Congress leader Sanjay Jha blames the party for the present crisis. “The Congress didn’t give Tharoor his due. In Tharoor, the Congress had an enormous expertise at its disposal and he together with Chidambaram ought to have been given prominence in showcasing celebration’s response to the present standoff,” Sanjay Jha says. What should worry the Congress is the support for Tharoor from one of its senior Kerala leaders, who was recently removed from the post of state chief. Former KPCC chief K Sudhakaran had last week questioned the party’s decision to exclude the name of Tharoor from the list of persons to lead the Centre’s delegations on ‘Operation Sindoor‘ and said it was akin to “insulting” him.Sudhakaran said that Tharoor was a competent leader and a loyal member of the party and therefore, in his view, it was not right to sideline the Thiruvananthapuram MP.“All this was an pointless controversy is what I really feel,” Sudhakaran had said in an interview to a TV channel according to news agency PTI.Should Congress act towards Tharoor?Tharoor seems to be unperturbed by the Congress opposition to his stand and the attacks of Udit Raj. He has openly aired his views supporting PM Modi’s diplomacy initiatives despite clear instructions from Mallikarjun Kharge not to speak against the party line.Sanjay Jha feels Congress should not take any action against Tharoor and instead the party should make efforts to talk to him and integrate him. Well, that does not seem likely in the present circumstances – especially with some Congress leaders now taking a more aggressive stand against Tharoor.Perhaps, it is the politics of Kerala that is at the centre of this row. Kerala goes to polls next year and Congress is going all out to defeat the LDF and make a comeback in the state after two consecutive defeats. The fact that Rahul Gandhi’s closest aide K C Venugopal is from Kerala may perhaps have something to do with the power tussle in the state unit and Tharoor’s possible disenchantment with the party.