Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Credit: PTI photo
New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has kicked up yet another row with his article on “nepotism and politics” with the ruling BJP seizing the opportunity and claiming that the article was aimed at “nepo kids” Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav.
Tharoor, in his column published over the weekend, had discussed how political families dominate India’s political landscape, arguing that “lineage alone cannot be a substitute for leadership.” He wrote that voters today were “more discerning” and that “inherited privilege no longer guarantees political success.”
Making the most of Tharoor's comments, BJP targeted the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal. “Dr Tharoor has merely stated what the country already knows: that parties like Congress and RJD are built on dynasty, not democracy,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said. “His words are an indirect reminder that the so-called youth icons of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav, owe their careers not to merit but to family names.”
Poonawalla added that Tharoor’s analysis “unintentionally exposes the hypocrisy” of the Congress, which often accuses the BJP of centralising power. “The BJP is a cadre-based party where even a booth worker can rise to the top. In contrast, Congress promotes only the family first,” he said.
Tharoor has not responded to the BJP’s remarks so far. The exchange comes at a time when both the NDA, which includes BJP and the RJD-Congress led Mahagathbandhan are intensifying their campaigns in Bihar.