Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has once again ruffled feathers within his own party after publicly expressing admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent address at the Ramnath Goenka Lecture. Tharoor’s remarks, which deviate from the Congress party’s critical stance toward the Prime Minister, have sparked intense public backlash from his colleagues.
On Tuesday, Tharoor used his platform on X (formerly Twitter) to share his positive assessment of the lecture, stating he was “glad to have been in the audience despite battling a bad cold and cough.”
Tharoor’s Praise for Modi’s Address
Tharoor described the Prime Minister’s speech as serving as “both an economic outlook and a cultural call to action, urging the nation to be restless for progress.” He highlighted several key takeaways from the address:
- ‘Emerging Model’: The Prime Minister emphasized that India is no longer merely an ’emerging market’ but an ’emerging model’ for the world, noting its economic resilience amid global challenges.
- ‘Emotional Mode’: Modi responded to critics who accuse him of being in “election mode” all the time by stating he was actually in “emotional mode” to redress the problems of the people.
- Post-Colonial Mindset: A significant portion of the speech was dedicated to overturning Macaulay’s 200-year legacy of “slave mentality.” The Prime Minister appealed for a 10-year national mission to restore pride in India’s heritage, languages, and knowledge systems. Tharoor, however, added a critical note, wishing Modi had also acknowledged how Ramnath Goenka himself had used English to raise a voice for Indian nationalism.
Internal Feud: ‘Hypocrite’ Remark
Tharoor’s appreciative comments immediately prompted sharp rebukes from his party colleagues, who questioned the source of his praise and his continued presence in the Congress party.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit launched a direct attack, labelling Tharoor a “hypocrite” and stating that the Thiruvananthapuram MP “does not know a lot about the country.”
“If, according to you, someone is doing good for the country by going against the Congress’s policies, then you should follow those policies… Why are you in Congress? Is it only because you are an MP?” Dikshit asked. He further insisted that if Tharoor genuinely feels that the BJP or PM Modi’s strategies are working better than the Congress’s, he should provide an explanation, or else he is a “hypocrite.”
Another Congress leader, Supriya Shrinate, echoed the sentiment, stating she found nothing “praiseworthy” in the Prime Minister’s address and questioned how Tharoor managed to find reason to appreciate it. She called the speech “petty,” suggesting it included unnecessary criticism of the Congress party.
A Pattern of Public Dissent
This incident closely follows another recent controversy where Tharoor defended BJP veteran L.K. Advani over criticism of the 1990s Rath Yatra, which was central to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Tharoor had argued that reducing Advani’s long public career to a single, controversial episode was unfair, forcing the Congress to officially distance itself from his personal views.