'Where ignorance is bliss...': Shashi Tharoor's cryptic post amid row with Congress leadership raises eyebrows

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has once again raised eyebrows amid speculations of an ongoing rift between him and the party leadership in Kerala as the parliamentarian shared a cryptic post on his X account on Saturday.

Tharoor put out a post quoting English poet Thomas Gray. “Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise” read the picture shared by Tharoor with the caption "Thought for the day!" The quote has been taken from Gray's 18th century poem Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.

The post left Tharoor's followers wondering whether it was a veiled attack on his party.

What is the discontent about?

Tensions between the Thiruvananthapuram MP and the Congress party began when the former wrote an article in an English daily praising Kerala's entrepreneurial growth under the CPI(M) government.

After a series of strong worded criticisms from the party leaders and a clarification from Tharoor, the national leadership of the Congress party on Tuesday stated that the controversy surrounding Tharoor's article is a closed chapter.

In his clarification, Tharoor, a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had claimed that his article contained no political references and that his focus was solely on Kerala's entrepreneurial and innovation-driven growth, intending to showcase the state's development in that specific area.

AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal said that the party had spoken to Tharoor on the matter, and he had informed them that if accurate data on the state's entrepreneurial growth were available, he would reconsider his stance.

"There is no need for any controversy over it. It is a closed chapter. That is the Congress' view," Venugopal told reporters in New Delhi in response to a query. He added that the Congress party in Kerala holds a strong view on the claims made by the Left government.

Venugopal alleged that the Left government had manipulated data on growth and was engaging in a PR exercise.

On Monday, KPCC chief K Sudhakaran stated that he had spoken directly to the Thiruvananthapuram MP and given him "good advice." "Individuals can have their own opinions, but the party decides its official stance," Sudhakaran had said in Kasaragod.

(With PTI inputs)