Shashi Tharoor is again in the thick of things, this time around he has very subtly hinted that he would be leaving the Indian National Congress (INC) at some point or another. The Congress MP on Monday said that he did not join Congress as a lifelong career, clearly pointing to the fact that Congress was nothing but a sinking ship now where all the major political stalwarts are either embroiled in court cases or doing the rounds of prison. “I did not come to the Congress party because I had any lifelong career here. I came because I believed it is the best vehicle for advancement of the ideas of inclusive and progressive India. We cannot sacrifice those ideas merely for seats or votes,” he said at a Youth Congress function in New Delhi on Monday. Speaking to journalists in Delhi, the Congress leader said, he joined the grand-old party as he believed it is the best vehicle for the advancement of the ideas of inclusive and progressive India.
After Congress’s disastrous campaign in the 2019 General Elections where it could only muster up a measly 52 seats, which just like 2014 does not even make it worthy of being the Leader of Opposition. Rahul Gandhi resigned from the position of Party President citing he had failed the party which he had done long ago by joining the party, it was widely believed that the three-time MP would be given the opportunity. Tharoor who had held onto his fort in Thiruvananthpuram and the state of Kerala effectively despite the Modi Tsunami, unfortunately, could not come up to the fore of Akbar Road in Delhi as he did not have any Gandhian or Nehruvian lineage. Congress in its long-drawn history has very rarely shifted from the Gandhian clan when it has come to the position of Party President.
Recently, Shashi Tharoor was caught in the fury of his partymen of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee(KPCC) when he was found saying “demonising the Prime Minister was wrong and he should be praised for the right things he does’. Visibly miffed at Tharoor’s remarks, KPCC President Mullapally Ramchandran had said in response, “He can’t praise Modi at the expense of Congress. We have sought an explanation from him. It can’t go like this. The future course of action will be decided after getting his explanation,”. Tharoor said that there was no harm in supporting good work and one should understand why people were backing Modi. But he later clarified that it didn’t mean that he was supporting Modi and had even claimed that two cases are pending against him for criticizing the PM and his party. Tharoor has not always been in the good books of many state party leaders, right from 2009, when as a rank outsider he was fielded by the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections and won.
Shashi Tharoor later tried to quash the reports doing the rounds that he was not looking to abandon Indian National Congress(INC) and that his comments were misreported. But by then, the damage had been done.
My remark to journos that i came into Congress despite it not having been a lifelong career, because I shared its principles &values, which we shld affirm, has been misreported as a threat to abandon @incIndia. One can only despair at the sensationalist inaccuracies of our media.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 9, 2019
Tharoor had earlier shown his willingness to be Congress leader in the Lower House but when Adhir Ranjan Choudhary was given the preferential treatment, it must have hurt the MP’s sentiments and that is apparent in his recent statements. Whatever be his political credentials, he is one of the few congress politicians that people believe to be a voice of reason, yet his party has long continued to sideline him and seems like it has irked him, finally. With no major opposition to counter the BJP led NDA at the centre, India’s democratic setup could have certainly used Tharoor’s acumen but Congress has long before lost its thinking cap and it would be a miracle if we see a turnaround.
