THIS time from thousands of miles away, Shashi Tharoor has riled the Congress for showing support for the Modi government over cross-border strikes. And once again, the party has made its displeasure known, with Congress leaders reminding him about surgical strikes under the UPA government and suggesting that the BJP should name him “super spokesperson”.
Tharoor was addressing an Indian diaspora event in Panama, the second stop of the multi-party delegation he is heading as part of the Modi government’s global outreach on terrorism. In the context of terrorism emanating from Pakistan soil, Tharoor said: “What has changed in recent years is that the terrorists have also realized they will have a price to pay… For the first time, India breached the LoC (Line of Control) between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launch pad… (after) the Uri strike in September 2016. That was something we had not done before. Even during the Kargil War, we had not crossed the LoC.”
The Congress has always countered this claim by the Modi government, saying that Indian security forces conducted surgical strikes under the UPA government as well, but without the party or the government publicising it.
Tharoor went on to mention the strike on Balakot by India, after the Pulwama terror attack of January 2019. “We not only crossed the LoC, we also crossed the international border and struck a terrorist headquarters. This time (in Operation Sindoor), we went beyond both of those… We struck in the Punjabi heartland of Pakistan.”
Hours after Tharoor’s remarks in Panama, Udit Raj, the Congress spokesperson and former MP, took a swipe at him on X Wednesday. “I could prevail upon PM Modi to declare you as super spokesperson of BJP, even foreign minister before (you land) in India,” he posted. “How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi, India never crossed the LoC and International Border? In 1965, the Indian Army entered Pakistan at multiple points, which completely surprised the Pakistanis in the Lahore sector. In 1971, India tore Pakistan into two pieces, and during the UPA government, several surgical strikes were unleashed, but drum beating was not done…”
Raj’s post was reposted by Congress Media and Publicity Department chairman Pawan Khera. Then, Khera himself took to X and posted a picture of “officers of 4 Sikh Regiment posing outside a captured Pakistani police station in Burki, Lahore District”.
Tagging Tharoor, Khera added: “This image is from the Battle of Burki (also known as the Battle of Lahore, 1965), a significant engagement during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965…” He went on to specify where exactly Burki was located in Pakistan.
Khera followed it up with another post – tagging Tharoor again – on the remarks by former prime minister Manmohan Singh in an interview to The Hindustan Times, saying “multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises”.
Both the posts were promptly reposted by Congress communications head Jairam Ramesh.
The fresh row comes days after the Congress had made its displeasure evident at the government picking the name of Tharoor, among others, for its seven multi-party delegations for its global outreach post-Operation Sindoor. The Congress had suggested other names, which the government ignored, barring that of Anand Sharma. Tharoor is the only Congress leader who is heading a delegation. His team is tasked with touring Latin America and the US.
Before the delegation controversy, Tharoor’s public pronouncements in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor had also drawn the ire of the Congress. After a recent meeting of the party’s leadership, a leader told the media that Tharoor had crossed the “Lakshman Rekha (red line)”.
Though a CWC member, Tharoor has increasingly been taking a line separate from the party’s, including on other Modi government initiatives as well as some by the LDF government in Kerala.
