Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has waded into fresh trouble with his comments on Jawaharlal Nehru, which his party does not approve of.
His remarks, in the presence of British MP Bikhu Parekh, who earlier made a critical assessment of the policies of Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi at a lecture here on Friday, have raised the hackles of Congressmen.
“That Lord Parekh and I have fought alike on issues of India’s identity and India’s domestic arrangements as well ... So we do, I am afraid, come from a similar outlook of the world.”
“I think his [is a] very clear summary for us of the way in which Indian foreign policy drew from our founding fathers’ sense of our civilisational heritage, the extraordinary contribution of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to the articulation of that civilisational heritage, the manner in which both enhanced India’s standing in the world and gave us the negative reputation for conducting foreign policy as a sort of moralistic running commentary on other people’s behaviour.”
Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told PTI: “I am very surprised by the style of Mr. Tharoor. He is a member of the Congress and his responsibility is to carry forward the legacy of Pandit Nehru and not to be critical of it.” He said Nehru was instrumental in formulating the foreign policy even before Independence .
