Congress leaders attack Shashi Tharoor for highlighting India’s change in approach in tackling Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism, Tharoor hits back
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is leading a multi-party delegation on a global outreach programme to various countries regarding the Pakistan-backed Pahalgam terror attack and India’s Operation Sindoor. While Congress has, over the years, been sidelining and insulting Shashi Tharoor for exercising intellectual freedom and not essentially being a Gandhi family Darbari, he has once again become a target of his own party leaders, even while he is on a national duty.
The row erupted after Congress leader Udit Raj questioned Tharoor’s loyalty towards the party on Wednesday (28th May 2025) and accused him of functioning as a “super spokesperson” of the Bhartiya Janata Party by echoing the BJP’s narrative in Panama.
Taking to X, Udit Raj said, “My dear @ShashiTharoor Alas ! I could prevail upon PM Modi to declare you as super spokesperson of BJP , even declaring as foreign minister before landing in India . How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi , India never crossed LOC and International border . In 1965 Indian Army entered Pakistan at multiple points, which completely surprised the Pakistanis in the Lahore sector. In 1971 , India tore Pakistan in two pieces and during UPA Govt several surgical strikes were unleashed but drum beating was not done to encash politically . How could you be so dishonest to the party which gave you so much?”
Speaking to ANI, Udit Raj doubled down his attack on Tharoor and said, “Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is the super spokesperson of the BJP, and what the BJP leaders are not saying, speaking in favour of PM Modi and the government, Shashi Tharoor is doing… Does he (Shashi Tharoor) even know what the earlier governments used to do? … They (the Central government) are taking credit for the Indian Armed Forces. Shashi Tharoor has become the spokesperson for the publicity stunts of the BJP.”
Further escalating his attacks on Tharoor, Udit Raj claimed that the 2016 surgical strikes against terror establishments in Pakistan were ‘fake’ and said, “He [Shashi Tharoor] is trying to malign Congress by saying the party has done nothing. You are glorifying PM Modi’s fake surgical strikes. Defending, saying that security lapses happen everywhere, is a crime… The credit that the Army deserves should only go to the Army.”
Notably, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading a multi-party delegation in a global outreach programme, recently said in Panama that India has changed its approach in recent years, and terrorists have also realised they will have to pay a price.
What Shashi Tharoor said in Panama
Referring to 2016’s Surgical strike and 2019’s Balakot airstrike in his address, the Congress MP said, “What has changed in recent years is that the terrorists have also realised they will have a price to pay; on that, let there be no doubt. When, for the first time, India breached the Line of Control between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launch pad – the Uri strike in September 2015. That was already something we had not done before. Even during the Kargil War, we had not crossed the Line of Control; in Uri, we did, and then came the attack in Pulwama in January 2019.”
“This time, we crossed not only the Line of Control but also the international border, and we struck the terrorist headquarters in Balakot. This time, we have gone beyond both of those. We have not only gone beyond the Line of Control and the international border. We have struck at the Punjabi heartland of Pakistan by hitting terror bases, training centres, and terror headquarters in nine places,” Tharoor added.
Congress continues prioritising party narrative over nation by turning against Shashi Tharoor while he presents India’s narrative on foreign soil
Instead of reining Udit Raj since Tharoor is still on a national duty, Congress leadership decided to join him in attacking their own party colleague for not toeing Congress’s narrative on foreign soil.
In this vein, Congress leader Pawan Khera took to X to ‘refute’ Tharoor’s remarks in Panama where he had stated India crossed the Line of Control for the first time in September 2015. Khera refuted Tharoor’s claims, citing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that many surgical strikes were conducted under the UPA government. Khera shared a video clip of Singh’s statement on social media, emphasizing that surgical strikes were not new to the current government.
Khera shared a link to the video and captioned it, “Former PM Manmohan Singh: Many Surgical Strikes Conducted Under UPA….”
In another post, the Congress leader wrote, “Professionally done, target-specific, limited-calibre counter-terrorist operations have been carried out across the LoC in the past too, but this is for the first time that the government has made it public,” Jaishankar said this to the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs in October 2016.”
Khera also shared the image of a page from Tharoor’s book “The Paradoxical Prime Minister”, in which, Tharoor being someone ideologically opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sharply criticised the public announcement of the 2016 Surgical Strikes along the LoC in Pakistan, however, unlike Udit Raj, who mindlessly declared the strike as “fake” and yet enjoy his party’s backing, Tharoor never raised such outrageous questions.
Meanwhile, reports say that Congress would be demanding an explanation from Shashi Tharoor on why he allegedly ‘contradicted’ party’s stand.
The public fallout not only highlights serious internal tensions within the Congress party amid its international outreach efforts but also shows that the Congress party would not shy away from attacking its own party leader for voicing his fact-based opinion while on national duty. Congress’s jibes against Shashi Tharoor, however, are not shocking given the party did not even submit his name for the multi-party delegation, disregarding the fact that the Thiruvananthapuram MP is not only a legislator with expertise in foreign affairs but also the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.
Shashi Tharoor responds to “zealots” attacking him for his remarks in Panama
Taking to X, Shashi Tharoor has strongly reacted to the unwarranted criticism directed his way for his statement in Panama regarding the shift in India’s approach in responding to Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism. Tharoor said that he was explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars, and that his remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone.
“After a long and successful day in Panama, i have to wind up at midnight vhere with departure for Bogota, Colombia in six hours, so I don’t really have time for this — 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; & 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. But as usual, critics and trolls are welcome to distort my views and words as they see fit. I genuinely have better things to do. Goodnight,” Tharoor said.
Shashi Tharoor paying the price of not being a Gandhi family sycophant
From Centre picking Shashi Tharoor over Congress-recommended MPs considering his strong diplomatic credentials, Tharoor accepting centre’s decision and joining the delegation going against Congress’s decision, to now fiercely presenting India’s perspective on counter-terrorism, the Congress party has continuously been targeting Shashi Tharoor.
In fact, the Thiruvananthapuram MP has constantly been attacked by his party colleagues over the past few years. In April 2024, a group of Congress workers stopped party MP Shashi Tharoor during an election campaign in Balaramapuram in Thiruvananthapuram city of Kerala. They raised ‘go back’ and ‘no vote for you’ slogans against Tharoor.
In 2019, senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan mocked Shashi Tharoor and said that it is not “Oxford English” but “anti-Modi” stand that had helped the party-led front win the Thiruvananthapuram seat from which Tharoor contested. This verbal attack by Muraleedharan on his party colleague came days after Tharoor had said that he has always been a proponent of praising PM Modi for his right policy decisions. Tharoor had stated that lauding PM Modi for correct decisions will also add to the credibility of the opposition.
In February this year, Shashi Tharoor expressed dissatisfaction over his role in the party. He met Rahul Gandhi to express discontent over being sidelined in the party and not being given opportunities to participate in major debates inside the Parliament. However, Tharoor was left disgruntled after Gandhi failed to address his concerns. Tharoor’s dissatisfaction also arose from his removal from the charge of the All India Professional Congress (AIPC), a body which he had established.
OpIndia’s detailed report on how Congress has been continuously cornering and humiliating Shashi Tharoor for not blindly following the Gandhi family’s diktats and how this approach of Congress has forced many of its leaders to quit the party can be read here.
News