Senior Congress chief Shashi Tharoor’s resounding endorsement of India’s latest counter-terror strikes throughout Operation Sindoor has discovered him praising the federal government’s response whilst his social gathering seethes over being sidelined in a vital diplomatic outreach.
Addressing the Indian diaspora on the Consulate in New York, Tharoor declared that whereas he didn’t work for the federal government, he was “happy” with the federal government’s retaliation to the Pahalgam bloodbath of April 22.
“I don’t work for the federal government, as you understand. I work for an opposition social gathering. However I personally authored an op-ed in one among India’s main papers, the Indian Categorical, inside a few days, saying the time had come to hit onerous however hit sensible. And I’m happy to say that’s precisely what India did.”
The Congress MP’s remarks, applauding India’s “exact and calibrated” counter-terror strikes on Might 7, have raised eyebrows inside his personal social gathering. The strikes focused 9 recognized terrorist bases in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, together with Lashkar-e-Taiba’s headquarters in Muridke and Jaish-e-Mohammed services in Bahawalpur.
“India replied instantly that we might not let this go unanswered,” Tharoor stated, including that the strikes have been a transparent message that India “was not going to take terror mendacity down.”
#WATCH | New York, US: Throughout an interplay on the Consulate, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, ” I don’t work for the federal government, as you understand. I work for an opposition social gathering…I personally authored an op-ed…saying the time has come to hit onerous however hit sensible. I’m happy to say… pic.twitter.com/9dPVuWzZJn
— ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2025
Tharoor, additionally the chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Exterior Affairs,
Tharoor’s statements are a part of a broader diplomatic push by India beneath ‘Operation Sindoor’, the place seven all-party delegations have been despatched abroad to challenge India’s zero-tolerance stance on terrorism. Tharoor heads the delegation to the USA, Panama, Guyana, Brazil, and Colombia, joined by MPs from the BJP and regional events.
However the Congress social gathering, already feeling remoted throughout the INDIA bloc, was removed from thrilled. The federal government’s announcement of delegation members with out consulting the Congress has solely deepened inner rifts.
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The Congress had advised the names of former Union Minister Anand Sharma; the social gathering’s Deputy Chief within the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi; and MPs Syed Naseer Hussain and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring. Tharoor’s identify didn’t determine within the listing advised by the Congress — and neither did the names of his Lok Sabha colleagues Manish Tewari and Amar Singh, and former Exterior Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who the federal government contacted for the delegations and ultimately, put in numerous teams.
Senior chief Jairam Ramesh known as the transfer “regrettable” and accused the Modi authorities of “low-cost political video games.”
Ramesh stated in a publish on X days in the past, “The 4 eminent Congress MPs/leaders who’ve been included on the occasion of the Modi Govt will, in fact, go along with the delegations and make their contributions. The INC won’t stoop to the pathetic stage of the PM and the BJP. It is going to all the time uphold the best traditions of Parliamentary democracy and never play partisan politics on nationwide safety points, just like the BJP does.”
Tharoor, for his half, has lengthy argued for a bipartisan strategy on safety issues and continues to carve out a distinct segment past social gathering strains, interesting to the intelligentsia and the youth alike. However his willingness to publicly applaud the federal government’s army operation — and to take action with rhetorical flourish — has left many within the Congress management privately uneasy.
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For the Modi authorities, nonetheless, Tharoor’s sturdy phrases are an sudden reward.