Congress leaders should follow Shashi Tharoor: BJP after opposition leader praised Modi govt

New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday projected Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's praise of the government's handling of the Russia-Ukraine war as an endorsement of India's deft diplomacy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

Former Union minister and Lok Sabha MP Ravi Shankar Prasad described Tharoor's acknowledgement that he has been proved incorrect in his early criticism of the government for not speaking out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a case of "better late then never." Prasad told reporters that the Modi government takes decisions that are good for India. "The way Shashi Tharoor has accepted it, if other Congress leaders would also acknowledge it, then it will be good," he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the government's diplomatic skills are clear to everyone who understands foreign affairs and noted that Modi had met the presidents of the two warring countries and drawn similar warmth from both of them.

India has marked an epochal change in its diplomacy under Modi as it has gone from non-aligned to "all-aligned" in its approach, he said.

"India is emerging as a friend of the world and this is what has been expressed by the senior Congress leader," Trivedi said.

Tharoor said on Tuesday that the policy adopted by India following the outbreak of the conflict meant that the country has actually a prime minister who can hug both the presidents of Ukraine and Russia two weeks apart and be accepted in both places.

The former minister of state for external affairs said, "I am still wiping the egg off my face because I am one person in the parliamentary debate who actually criticised the Indian position at the time back in February 2022." Tharoor justified his changed stand on Wednesday and said he voiced his opinion as an Indian and does not see politics in that.