Delhi: In a development that has intensified ongoing discussions within the Congress party, senior leader and MP Shashi Tharoor was notably absent from the Congress Strategic Group meeting chaired by Sonia Gandhi ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament. His absence triggered fresh speculation, even as his office clarified that Tharoor was in Kerala and travelling back with his 90-year-old mother, making it impossible for him to attend the meeting.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal was also unable to join the meeting due to his engagement in local body election campaigning in Kerala.
This is not the first time Tharoor has skipped an important party gathering. He had recently missed a meeting called on the SIR issue, citing ill health. What raised eyebrows within the party, however, was his appearance at a Prime Minister Narendra Modi event a day earlier, followed by social media posts praising the Prime Minister’s speech. The move triggered sharp internal criticism and renewed debate over Tharoor’s ideological consistency.
Tharoor’s praise focused on the Prime Minister’s vision of transforming India from an “emerging market” to an “emerging model” and on his emphasis on shedding the colonial “slave mentality” that has shaped India’s institutions and mindset for centuries. He especially highlighted that Modi used “a significant part of the speech” to challenge “Macaulay’s 200-year legacy of ‘slave mentality.’”
Despite the backlash, Tharoor has categorically denied rumours of defecting from the Congress, stressing that his comments merely reflect differences of opinion and not disloyalty. However, the reactions from within the party suggest growing discomfort with his frequent praise of PM Modi.
Senior Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit questioned Tharoor’s place in the party, telling ANI: “Shashi Tharoor’s problem is that I don’t think he knows 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? If you really feel that the BJP or PM Modi’s strategies are working better than the party you are in, then you should give an explanation. If you are not giving one, you are a hypocrite.”
