'Mimicry cute in birds, not in politics': Tharoor's Emergency article widens rift within Congress

New Delhi: In a veiled swipe at Congress MP Shashi Tharoor after he penned an article on the Emergency, party leader Manickam Tagore on Thursday said when a colleague starts repeating BJP lines word for word, one begins to wonder whether "the bird is becoming a parrot".

Tharoor has said that the Emergency should not be remembered merely as a dark chapter in India's history, but that its lessons must be fully understood.

In an article on the Emergency published in the Malayalam daily Deepika on Thursday, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) member recalled the dark era of the Emergency declared by then prime minister Indira Gandhi between June 25, 1975 and March 21, 1977, and said that efforts undertaken for discipline and order often turned into acts of cruelty that could not be justified.

Without naming anyone, Tagore, who is a Congress MP from Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu and the party's whip in the Lok Sabha, said on X, "When a Colleague starts repeating BJP lines word for word, you begin to wonder — is the Bird becoming a parrot? Mimicry is cute in birds, not in politics."

In his article, Tharoor said, "Sanjay Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi, led forced sterilisation campaigns which became a notorious example of this. In poor rural areas, violence and coercion were used to meet arbitrary targets.

"In cities like New Delhi, slums were mercilessly demolished and cleared. Thousands of people were rendered homeless. Their welfare was not taken into consideration."

The Thiruvananthapuram MP wrote that democracy is not something to be taken lightly; it is a precious legacy that must be constantly nurtured and preserved.

"Let it serve as a lasting reminder to people everywhere," Tharoor said. According to him, today's India is not the India of 1975.

Tharoor and Tagore had also indulged in "bird talk" last month to convey their views.

The Tharoor-Congress rift had taken a turn towards what some termed a "war of birds" as Tagore had sought to establish the pecking order with an X message to his colleague last month.

Tharoor, who has been garnering attention for his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is known for his wordplay, started the bird analogy battle on Wednesday. Tagore followed the cue a day later.

Last month, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge took a jibe at Tharoor and said his party believes in the "country first" mantra but for some, it is "Modi first and country later".

Soon after, Tharoor put out a cryptic post on X with an image of a bird and this caption: "Don't ask permission to fly. The wings are yours. And the sky belongs to no one..." The post was seen by many as the Thiruvananthapuram MP's response to the dig with a veiled message that he would do his own thing and would not be restrained.

A day later, Tagore said as if in direct response, "Don't ask permission to fly. Birds don't need clearance to rise… But in today even a free bird must watch the skies -- hawks, vultures, and 'eagles' are always hunting." "Freedom isn't free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers," Tagore said.

To drive home his point, he had shared a chart with the list of birds known as "hunters of the sky".

The chart contained descriptions of birds such as bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, turkey, vulture and great-horned owl.

In another article last month, Tharoor said the diplomatic outreach following Operation Sindoor was a moment of national resolve and effective communication. The Prime Minister's Office shared Tharoor's article on X.

Remarks by the leader, who also headed one of the delegations sent abroad to spread the government's message on Operation Sindoor, were seen as likely to irk the Congress party and widen cracks in his ties with its leadership.

Following the Pahalgam terror attack, Tharoor has been making comments on the India-Pakistan conflict and the diplomatic outreach that are at variance with the stand of the Congress.