‘I agree with that’: Congress leader Pawan Khera’s dig at Shashi Tharoor over praise for Modi govt

Sharing an excerpt from Tharoor’s 2018 book on social media Khera said, “I agree with that Dr Shashi Tharoor who wrote about surgical strikes in his book in 2018 – ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister’.”

In the highlighted excerpt shared by Khera, Tharoor is seen criticising the BJP-led Centre’s 2016 ‘surgical strikes’ along the LoC as a party election tool to garner votes, while adding that Congress had never done so, despite having ordered several airstrikes.

In the highlighted portion, Tharoor is seen calling the BJP’s conduct of the 2016 ‘surgical strikes’ a “particularly disgraceful dilution of the principal that national security issues require both discretion and non-partisanship.”

While Tharoor’s praise for Modi has received flak from his party colleagues, the MP has issued a clarification on his official X account. He stated that his comments specifically addressed retaliatory actions following terrorist attacks, did not reflect that of previous wars or military operations.

“My remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone, during which previous Indian responses were both restrained and constrained by our responsible respect for the LoC and the IB,” his X post reads.

Tharoor has been facing internal heat for taking a stance different from the party on Operation Sindoor and has also been accused of parroting BJP’s narrative on the war.