<p>Congress MP Shashi Tharoor may have drawn flak from party colleagues for “praising” Narendra Modi, but a collection of his essays in a new book seeks to find fault with the prime minister for the widening “gulf” between his words and actions, as well as his silence on controversial issues.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In his new book “India Shastra: Reflections on the Nation in Our Time”—a collection of 100 essays on a variety of subjects—Tharoor devotes 92 pages in two sections out of a total of 473 pages to dissecting Modi's six months in power, but he is not singing paeans to the prime minister.<br /><br />The book comes at a time when Tharoor is battling one of the worst crises in his life: clearing his name in the case of murder of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. And opponents are alleging that he is cosying up to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). <br /><br />The Congress removed Tharoor as spokesperson in October last year after party colleagues in Kerala complained about his praise of Modi for initiatives like the “Clean India” campaign.<br /><br />In his articles, Tharoor tries to project that it took “just a few weeks” to expose the “hollowness” of Modi’s campaign against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government after he assumed power. <br /><br />He cites the continuation of the sugar policy formulated by the UPA, GST, talks with Pakistan, rail fare hike and fuel price increases. “Hypocrisy about rhetoric and action has characterised virtually every policy decision the BJP government has taken so far,” he says.<br /><br />He also criticises the first budget in July 2014 in one of the essays, saying it cannot be a “laundry list of assorted Rs 100-crore sops”, and has cautioned the government to fulfil its promises rather than disappoint youngsters who voted them to power.<br /><br />Tharoor points fingers at the Modi government for the “worst politicisation” of the civil services in “living memory”, following decision to remove officers of impeccable integrity from NDA ministers' personal staff just because they had served UPA ministers.<br /><br />“We are learning to get used to more and more examples of the gulf between proclamation and actual implementation in the Modi era,” he writes in one of the essays, published earlier and updated for the book.<br /></p>
<p>Congress MP Shashi Tharoor may have drawn flak from party colleagues for “praising” Narendra Modi, but a collection of his essays in a new book seeks to find fault with the prime minister for the widening “gulf” between his words and actions, as well as his silence on controversial issues.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In his new book “India Shastra: Reflections on the Nation in Our Time”—a collection of 100 essays on a variety of subjects—Tharoor devotes 92 pages in two sections out of a total of 473 pages to dissecting Modi's six months in power, but he is not singing paeans to the prime minister.<br /><br />The book comes at a time when Tharoor is battling one of the worst crises in his life: clearing his name in the case of murder of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. And opponents are alleging that he is cosying up to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). <br /><br />The Congress removed Tharoor as spokesperson in October last year after party colleagues in Kerala complained about his praise of Modi for initiatives like the “Clean India” campaign.<br /><br />In his articles, Tharoor tries to project that it took “just a few weeks” to expose the “hollowness” of Modi’s campaign against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government after he assumed power. <br /><br />He cites the continuation of the sugar policy formulated by the UPA, GST, talks with Pakistan, rail fare hike and fuel price increases. “Hypocrisy about rhetoric and action has characterised virtually every policy decision the BJP government has taken so far,” he says.<br /><br />He also criticises the first budget in July 2014 in one of the essays, saying it cannot be a “laundry list of assorted Rs 100-crore sops”, and has cautioned the government to fulfil its promises rather than disappoint youngsters who voted them to power.<br /><br />Tharoor points fingers at the Modi government for the “worst politicisation” of the civil services in “living memory”, following decision to remove officers of impeccable integrity from NDA ministers' personal staff just because they had served UPA ministers.<br /><br />“We are learning to get used to more and more examples of the gulf between proclamation and actual implementation in the Modi era,” he writes in one of the essays, published earlier and updated for the book.<br /></p>
