'Is it so difficult to be patriotic?': Salman Khurshid's cryptic post amid diplomatic mission abroad

New Delhi: As his remarks on Article 370 triggered further trouble in Congress, senior leader Salman Khurshid on Monday said it is distressing that "people at home are calculating political allegiances" when he is on a mission to carry India's message against terrorism and asked whether it was difficult to be patriotic.

No senior Congress leader has commented on the remarks of Khurshid, who is abroad as part of a multi-party delegation campaigning against Pakistan sponsored cross border terrorism, like they did against Shashi Tharoor.

Addressing think tanks and academia in Indonesia last week, Khurshid said it was unfortunate that Pakistan wants to undo the development in Jammu and Kashmir following abrogation of Article 370.

Amid facing criticism as ruling BJP sought to fish in troubled waters, Khurshid posted on ‘X’, “when on mission against terrorism, to carry India’s message to the world, it’s distressing that people at home are calculating political allegiances. Is it so difficult to be patriotic?”

In Kuala Lumpur, he said, “people keep saying, ‘what are you doing in a delegation where there are people from the BJP’. What we are doing is what is needed for the country. No matter which party you are from, today what is needed is a single voice to speak for the nation.”

“People are also saying ‘he is supporting so-and-so and is not supporting so-and-so’. But if I wanted to oppose the government I would stay at home. I have come to speak for India,” he said.

Congress has been up in arms with the government over choosing its four leaders -- Tharoor, Khurshid, Manish Tewari and Amar Singh -- for seven multi-party delegations without consulting it. The government chose only Anand Sharma from a list of four leaders it had proposed.

Some of its leaders had locked horns with Tharoor over accepting the chairmanship of one of the delegations without informing the party and his comments perceived to be supportive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Operation Sindoor.

He had also courted controversy by saying that it was only in 2016 that armed forces crossed LoC to conduct surgical strikes. This was countered by Congress Media and Publicity Department head Pawan Khera who quoted from Tharoor’s book to say that surgical strikes were conducted during UPA government’s time too.