New Delhi:
Congress’s Shashi Tharoor — who is facing criticism from his own party for backing the government on Operation Sindoor — has found unexpected support from the BJP camp. Today Union minister Kiren Rijiju attacked the Congress over its stance on Mr Tharoor, questioning what it expects of the all-party teams the Centre has sent to key nations to explain Operation Sindoor.
Shashi Tharoor is one leading one of the seven teams and it is his comments in Panama that has upset the Congress.
The party — after assuring the Centre of full support after the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam — has asked then Centre to explain US President Donald Trump’s role in the ceasefire after four days of Pakistani aggression.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Rijiju said: “What does the Congress party want & How much they really care for the country? Should the Indian MPs go to foreign nation and speak against India and its Prime Minister? There’s limit to political desperation!”.
The comment was on a video that merged a part of Mr Tharoor’s address in Panama and the biting criticism of Congress’s Udit Raj.
“Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is the super spokesperson of the BJP, and what the BJP leaders are not saying, speaking in favour of PM Modi and the government, Shashi Tharoor is doing… Does he (Shashi Tharoor) even know what the earlier governments used to do?… They (the Central government) are taking credit for the Indian Armed Forces,” Udit Raj had said.
Mr Tharoor, a career diplomat who was even stationed at the United Nations before joining politics, was not among the leaders Congress recommended for the all-party teams.
He was picked directly by the Centre and the Congress made it clear that it was not happy that the government had taken this liberty without consulting it.
In Panama, Mr Tharoor, in an emotive speech, said: “Our Prime Minister has made it very clear. Operation Sindoor was necessary because these terrorists came and wiped the sindoor off the foreheads of 26 women, depriving them of their husbands…. We heard their cries and India decided that the colour of the Sindoor, the vermilion colour on the forehead of our women, will also match the colour of the blood of the killers, the perpetrators, the attackers”.
He also juxtaposed India’s response to the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, that was much worse on scale than in Pahalgam – words that apparently did not sit well with the Congress, which was in power at the Centre at the time.
“We had all the evidence. We even captured one of the terrorists alive… He was identified, his home, his address, his village in Pakistan were identified… Not only India, but Western intelligence agencies had recordings of the chilling voice of the Pakistani handler… All the evidence was collected, and dossiers were established. What happened? Has a single person behind this outrage been prosecuted, let alone convicted? The answer is no,” he said.
“We have suffered attack after attack for almost four decades. It is just not acceptable for us to continue to bear the pain, the grief, the wounds, the losses and then merely go and tell the international community, look what is happening to us. Please help us. Please put pressure on the perpetrators to actually identify and prosecute the criminals,” he had added.