‘I don’t go where I am not invited’: Tharoor accepts ‘differences of opinion’ with Congress leadership

In the light of the ongoing bypoll for the Nilambur seat, Tharoor turned down requests to elaborate on his position. “Today I don’t want to speak it. I need to meet and talk, let the time come, and I will discuss it,” he said. Asked about his absence from the Nilambur bypoll campaign, the four-time MP revealed he was not invited as was the case during other byelections, including the one in Wayanad last year.
“I do not go where I am not invited,” he said, but added that he wants the party workers’ campaign efforts to bear fruit and the UDF candidate to win from Nilambur.

Tharoor was also asked about his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after returning from his five-nation visit. The diplomat-turned-politician said the talks centered around the visits to various countries in connection with Operation Sindoor and the discussions held there.

“No domestic politics were discussed,” he added.

‘Not changed my line’

He also defended his decision to accept the Centre’s invite to head one of the delegations, asserting that when he became the chairman of the External Affairs Committee of the Parliament, he had made it clear that he was focused on India’s foreign policy and its national interest and not the foreign policy of the Congress and BJP.

“I have not changed my line. When an issue concerning the nation comes up, we are all obligated to work and speak for the country. What I said during Operation Sindoor was my own opinion.

“The Centre asked for my services. Indeed, my party did not. So, I proudly did my duty as an Indian citizen,” he said.

Speaking at an Indian diaspora event in Panama, Tharoor said that what has “changed in recent years is that the terrorists have also realised they will have a price to pay”. Speaking about terror emanating from Pakistan, he said that “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.”

This drew sharp responses from Congress leaders. Udit Raj, the Congress spokesperson and former MP, took to social media platform X to counter Tharoor. “I could prevail upon PM Modi to declare you as super spokesperson of BJP, even foreign minister before (you land) in India,” he wrote. “How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi, India never crossed the LoC and International Border?” Raj asked Tharoor.

Congress Media and Publicity Department chairman Pawan Khera reposted Raj’s post. Both the posts were reposted by Congress communications head Jairam Ramesh.

Tharoor responded to the criticism from his party, posting on X: “For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC: in the past. 1. I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars; & 2. 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.”

He ended his post by saying that “critics and trolls are welcome to distort my views and words as they see fit. I genuinely have better things to do. Goodnight”.

Even the selection of Tharoor as part of the government delegation to spread information in the wake of Operation Sindoor drew fierce opposition from Congress. Tharoor, the chairman of the External Affairs Committee of the Parliament, wasn’t on the list of four names forwarded by the party to the Centre.

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