Tharoor slams 'zealots' saying he was speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks; Congress hits back citing lines from his book

Following the Pahalgam attack, Tharoor has been making comments on the India-Pakistan conflict that are at variance with Congress' stand, which has been questioning the government over US President Donald Trump's claims of mediating a ceasefire between the two countries.

New Delhi: The mistrust between a defiant Shashi Tharoor and the Congress appears to be growing on Thursday as the senior MP and his party colleagues were at each other’s throat.

As he faced a backlash for his praise for surgical strikes under the Modi government, Tharoor attacked the “zealots” for distorting his views as they deemed fit, while Congress leaders returned fire by sharing a portion from his book that contradicted the statement he made in Panama.

Winging up the multi-party delegation’s assignment in Panama and as they headed for Columbia, Tharoor said he “genuinely have better things to do than clarifying distortions".

“...But anyway: For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC in the past. 1) I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars; and 2) My remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone, during which previous Indian responses were both restrained and constrained by our responsible respect for the LoC and the IB (International Border),” he posted on X.

His remarks two days ago in Panama had triggered criticism from Congress as he said India breached the Line of Control with Pakistan for the first time in 2016 after the Uri terror attack and it was “already something” that India had “not done before”.

This attracted sharp reaction from Congress leaders like Pawan Khera and Udit Raj, who referred to previous instances, including remarks by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and S Jaishankar who appeared before a Parliamentary panel as Foreign Secretary then.

Khera, Congress Media and Publicity Department Chairman, continued his attack on Tharoor by sharing the image of a page from Tharoor's 2018 book ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and His India’ in which he criticised the Modi government while acknowledging strikes conducted by Congress government.

In the book, Tharoor said that the Modi government has “not hesitated to politicise” the armed forces, not just bypassing time-honoured principles of seniority in appointing the army chief, but “by repeatedly using the army in its political propaganda”.

“The shameless exploitation of the 2016 ‘surgical strikes’ along the Line of Control with Pakistan, and of a military raid in hot pursuit of rebels in Myanmar, as a party election tool—something the Congress had never done despite having authorized several such strikes earlier—marked a particularly disgraceful dilution of the principle that national security issues require both discretion and non-partisanship,” Khera highlighted from Tharoor's book.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh, who had in a meeting of CWC members criticised Tharoor for not reflecting party view on Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor while praising Modi, responded to Khera’s post saying, “indeed”. This is the first time a General Secretary-level office bearer publicly criticised Tharoor after Panama remarks.

Speaking to reporters, Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala sought to play down the controversy saying it is “not a matter of acrimony” and what Ramesh and Khera did was just to set the record straight.

Calling Tharoor “a seasoned and experienced leader who is very much part of the Congress", Surjewala said, “What he said is factually incorrect, and Congress has only corrected it by pointing out that the surgical strike on Pakistan and also other places on the den of terrorists was a regular feature during Congress-led UPA government."

Raj also joined the attack and claimed the Congress governments had carried out surgical strikes on Pakistan six times but it did not take credit for it.

As Congress leaders targeted Tharoor, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “What does the Congress party want and how much do they really care for the country? Should the Indian MPs go to foreign nations and speak against India and its Prime Minister? There's a limit to political desperation!”