Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s pro-Narendra Modi statements have stirred up a hornet’s nest in the State, with several Congress leaders condemning them as expressions of obeisance to the Modi government.
Leading the criticism against Mr. Tharoor, who represents Thiruvananthapuram in the Lok Sabha, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president V.M. Sudheeran said that Mr. Tharoor’s persistent pro-Modi statements were quite disturbing, considering the fact that these were being made without consultation with either the Congress high command or the State leadership. He felt that Mr. Tharoor had fallen into the BJP’s trap.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that it was hard for the Congress party to accept the policy perspectives of the BJP and the RSS. In this context, it was highly improper on the part of a Congress MP to praise the Prime Minister’s action.
Besides informing the party high command about Mr. Tharoor’s intransigency, the party leaders would jointly examine the prospects of initiating action against Mr. Tharoor, he said. KPCC vice-presidents M.M. Hassan and V.D. Satheeshan came out with statements asking the MP to end his laudation. Interestingly, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was conspicuously silent on the ongoing controversy
Mr. Tharoor, who is at present abroad, had accepted Mr. Modi’s invitation to join the Swachh Bharat campaign as one of the nine brand ambassadors. A couple of weeks ago, he had praised the Prime Minister for his speech in the United Nations General Assembly.
Reacting to the row through his social media page, Mr. Tharoor said he had accepted the Prime Minister’s appeal since it was pitched as non-political one. He was astonished at being branded as pro-BJP. He had a 30 year paper trail published writings on his idea of India and its pluralism. “Being receptive to specific statements or actions of BJP leaders does not remotely imply acceptance of the party’s core Hindutva agenda,” the FB post said.
Mr. Tharoor’s relations with the State leadership have been queasy for some time now. His recent engagements with Prime Minister Narendra Modi through their respective twitter handles and Facebook accounts only served to add to the discomfiture of the Congress leaders. In the bipolar politics of the State, where the BJP has been struggling to find a political toe-hold, hobnobbing with the party’s leader is an anathema.
