"Bharat Ki Baat...": After Shashi Tharoor, Another MP's Message To Congress

NDTV

4 days ago

New Delhi:
As the Congress tries to corner the Narendra Modi government during the ongoing Operation Sindoor debate, its internal strains are making headlines and putting the main Opposition on a sticky wicket. Amid the buzz over why senior party leader Shashi Tharoor was not speaking in the debate, another MP's social media post has left the Congress red-faced and given fresh ammo to the BJP.
Former Union Minister and Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari today shared a screenshot of a news report on why he and Mr Tharoor were benched for a debate. The post on X was captioned with the evergreen patriotic song from Purab Aur Pachhim (1970): "Hai preet jahaan ki reet sada, main geet wahaan ke gaata hoon, Bharat ka rehne waala hoon, Bharat ki baat sunata hoon. Jai Hind," the Congress MP wrote.
Both Mr Tewari and Mr Tharoor, who are not on the Congress list of speakers for the Parliament debate, were part of the Indian delegations that travelled abroad as part of New Delhi's global outreach after Operation Sindoor. Amar Singh, the Fatehgarh Sahib MP who was part of a delegation, is also not on the list. Veteran Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Salman Khurshid were part of the delegations, but they are not sitting MPs.
As the Operation Sindoor debate began yesterday, the Congress list of speakers raised tall questions. The name of Mr Tharoor, a former diplomat and a phenomenal public speaker, was not on the list. When the media asked him about this outside the Parliament, he replied with a smile, "maunvrat" -- meaning a "vow of silence". Sources have told NDTV that Mr Tharoor had refused to toe the party line during the debate and said he would not contradict himself "for the sake of party messaging".
This follows months of unease between Mr Tharoor and the Congress leadership over his public comments in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack and India's counterstrike Operation Sindoor. Mr Tharoor recently said his "first loyalty" lies with the nation. "Parties are a means of making the nation better. So to my mind, whichever party you belong to, the objective of that party is to create a better India in its own way."
The BJP, meanwhile, sensed a political opportunity in the conspicuous omission of key leaders from the Congress list of speakers. Senior BJP leader Baijayant Jay Panda took a dig at the Congress, saying the party is not allowing Mr Tharoor to speak. "There are several leaders in your (Congress) party who can speak well... My friend Shashi Tharoor Ji, who is a good speaker, is not allowed to speak by his party," he said.