New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) First party MP Shashi Tharoor and now party veteran Salman Khurshid – the two senior Congressmen seem to be turning into ‘headache’ for the Congress party as they continue to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s new doctrine on terror and ‘defy’ their own party line on subjects like surgical strikes and Article 370 abrogation.
Salman Khurshid on Monday expressed concern over political divisions back home amidst India’s global mission to expose Pakistan, and asked why it is so difficult to be patriotic, a signal aimed at his critics within the Congress.
“When on a mission against terrorism, to carry India’s message to the world, it’s distressing that people at home are calculating political allegiances. Is it so difficult to be patriotic?” he wrote in a post on X.
Former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid’s endorsement of Article 370 abrogation, while addressing the academia and think tanks in Indonesia recently, created discomfiture in the Congress party, though the latter kept silence, unlike Tharoor’s case where it called out his ‘Modi bhakti’ at a public forum. BJP, however, was quick to welcome Khurshid’s praise for Article 370 revocation.
Addressing the gathering, Khurshid stated that Central government’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August 2019 led to positive changes and increased prosperity in the region and there was a desperate attempt by Pakistan-based terrorists to undo the good in the Kashmir Valley.
Days ago, Shashi Tharoor, heading one of the seven delegations, invited strong criticism from the party after he credited PM Modi-led government for green-lighting India’s ‘first’ surgical strikes across the border, which saw armed forces punishing Pakistan by crossing the border. His open endorsement of the Modi government’s new security doctrine earned him strong pushback from the party as many top leaders took exception to his views and also asked him not to paint the party in bad light, which shaped his political identity.
Tharoor, responding to the criticism, has also vowed to address the criticism from within the party when he returns home. He said that presenting India’s stance on terrorism was the need of hour, and it was not the time for internal debates but to ensure success of the mission.
“When we return to India, we will certainly address our critics and speak with our colleagues and the media,” he told the press.
Notably, there is a growing sense of disquiet and unease within the Congress party ever since the Centre picked ‘leaders of its choice’ from the grand old party for a multi-party delegation to put forward India’s stance against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism on the world stage.
Days after Operation Sindoor, Congress has launched intense and vociferous attack on the Centre demanding answers on the number of jets shot down by Pakistan, fixing accountability for the Pahalgam attack and also passing information to the enemy beforehand. But with party veterans boasting about the Modi government’s Operation Sindoor and the subsequent global outreach mission during foreign visit, the Congress looks a divided house, with discordant voices and opinions taking over the public discourse.
–IANS
mr/pgh