Shashi Tharoor’s scathing remarks on Trump: 2024 video falsely linked to Op Sindoor global outreach
Soon after the Shashi Tharoor-led delegation of MPs had reached the United States on May 24 as part of India’s global outreach on Operation Sindoor, a 1.20-minute clip of Tharoor ‘taking on’ Donald Trump went viral on social media. In the video, the Congress MP comments that Trump’s ‘personal manner’ is not entirely ‘agreeable or pleasant’ for a distinguished American statesman. He also mentions that Trump lacks the class, political heft, statesman-like gravitas and intellectual quality found in former US presidents.
While Trump claimed a stake in India and Pakistan reaching a ceasefire agreement after the flare-up earlier this month, India made it clear that the decision was bilateral and denied the USA’s role in de-escalating tensions.
Media outlet NewsX aired the purported clip of Tharoor against the backdrop of the all-party delegation’s visit to the US. The anchor is heard saying, “Let’s also shift our focus to more developments. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and his team members of the all-party delegation on Operation Sindoor are in the United States. On the US soil, Tharoor has made a statement on Donald Trump. In fact, that has been going viral on social media. Let’s take a look”, before playing the clip.
The same clip was reported as recent by Hindi media outlet Prabhat Khabar. (Archive)
Verified X handle @mohitlaws shared the video and remarked that this was “how you take on a bully like Donald Trump.” The tweet has garnered close to 4 Lakh views. (Archive)
Verified X user @nkk_123 tweeted the viral clip and said “…This is how we expect laser eyed JJ to take on Trump and respond to the bully…”. Here, JJ is a sarcastic jibe at Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was the first to take this dig at Jaishankar. (Archive)
Another handle, @ragiiing_bull, also tweeted the video, praising Tharoor and suggesting that this was why he had been entrusted with a prominent diplomatic role representing India in the US. The tweet garnered close to a million views. (Archive)
Several other users on X, including INC aligned handle @AshishSinghKiJi, Far-Right propaganda account @KreatelyMedia, pro-Pakistani propaganda account, @IntelPk_, amplified the video. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Fact Check
We noticed that several tweets containing the viral video were seemingly a screen-recording of an Instagram video, collaboratively posted by @asiasociety and @shashitharoor. Alt News found that the video had been originally posted by the official Instagram handle of the Asia Society Museum on September 24, 2024, months before Operation Sindoor and the armed conflict between the two countries.
According to the caption, the Congress MP was speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Taking a cue from this, we looked for the full video of Tharoor’s interview at the JLF. We found it on the YouTube channel of the Jaipur literature Festival.
Tharoor made the now-viral remarks on September 10, 2024, in New York, in a conversation with the chairman and editor-in-chief of the India Today Group, Aroon Purie. The viral portion of the interview appears around the 12:36-minute mark in the clip below.
It is pertinent to note that Donald Trump was sworn in as the President of the United States for the second time on January 20, 2025. At the time of Tharoor’s interview, Joe Biden was the president of the United States.
Besides, Alt News could not find a single credible report wherein Tharoor is seen passing such ‘scathing remarks’ on Trump during his recent US visit.
While speaking at a public interaction at the Indian Consulate in New York on May 24, the Thiruvananthapuram MP specified how India’s calibrated military strikes during Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, sent a clear and precise message to the perpetrators of Pahalgam attack and their backers. Tharoor also stated that the time had come to set a “new bottom line” in India’s dealings with Pakistan. “We have tried everything – international dossiers, complaints, everything has been tried,” he added. He said that Pakistan had remained in denial, with “no convictions, no serious criminal prosecutions, and no genuine attempt to dismantle” its terror infrastructure. “The persistence of safe havens…you (Pakistan) do this, you are going to get this back,” he remarked.
To sum up, the viral video of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor critiquing US President Donald Trump is not recent and it is not connected to the Tharoor-led team of MPs’ visit to the US post Operation Sindoor. The video is from September 2024, and from a talk show which was part of a Jaipur Literature Festival session in New York.
The post Shashi Tharoor’s scathing remarks on Trump: 2024 video falsely linked to Op Sindoor global outreach appeared first on Alt News.
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