New Delhi [India]: A day after Congress leader Shashi Tharoor acknowledged India’s successful diplomatic stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy and hoped Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would not “act against” Tharoor for his candid remarks.
“Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has agreed that Congress’s own stance on Russia-Ukraine was wrong, and what PM Modi and the Indian government did was completely right. Today, we are in a position where we can hug Putin (Russian President), Zelenskyy (Ukraine President), and even the US,” Poonawalla said in a self-recorded video.
Tharoor made these remarks on March 18 during the Raisina Dialogue 2025 held in New Delhi.
Reflecting on his earlier criticism of India’s neutral stance in 2022, Tharoor admitted:
“I am still wiping the egg off my face because I was one person in the parliamentary debate who actually criticised the Indian position at the time back in February 2022.”
Explaining his earlier view, Tharoor emphasized that his criticism was based on India’s historical commitment to the UN Charter, sovereignty principles, and opposition to using force to resolve international disputes.
“On the well-worn grounds that Espen (Norway’s Foreign Minister) will understand… there was a violation of the UN Charter, sovereignty of a member state, namely Ukraine… We had always stood for that.”
However, Tharoor acknowledged that India’s diplomatic approach has proven effective.
“Well, 3 years later, it does look like I am the one with egg on my face because clearly the policy has meant that India has a Prime Minister who can hug both the president of Ukraine and the president of Moscow two weeks apart and be accepted in both places. Therefore, India is in a position where it can make a difference to a lasting peace if required, in ways that very few countries would be able to.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and since then, efforts to mediate peace have continued. Former US President Donald Trump recently claimed on Truth Social that he had “productive conversations” with Vladimir Putin about a potential ceasefire and ending the “horrible war.”