Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took a swipe at those who “attacked” him for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He reposted a video of his remarks from an event organised by Amrita News on his X handle, wherein he said, “…even a neutral post by me on a speech by the Prime Minister has been attacked as praising the Prime Minister.”
“I didn’t say a single word of praise, I just described the speech,” Tharoor said.
‘I might disagree’
Shashi Tharoor said that being solely interested in “ideological purity” is not the way to get things done and that sometimes people need to be “more willing to cooperate across ideologies”.
The Congress leader asked how a state could accomplish its goals without engaging with the Centre.
“You really have to say it is in our interest to cooperate in the interest of our people…So yes, I might disagree with the ruling party, but they are the ruling party, they have a mandate from the nation. I will work with them,” he said.
Tharoor said that if the central government introduces a scheme with conditions that it would provide money to the state only if a certain work is done, then he “will discuss” it with the Centre.
“I will see how I can implement it within the framework of my convictions, but I will take the money because my people in my state need the money. That kind of thing, that kind of cooperation, to my mind, is essential,” the Congress MP added.
He also cited a recent example from Kerala, where a central scheme was rejected, and the money was denied, even when the state “is broke and needs the money”.
“There are schools, government schools, whose roofs are leaking, roofs are collapsing, where we don’t have money for desks and blackboards, and we are now acting ideologically pure and refusing the money from the Centre. That’s crazy. It’s taxpayers’ money. It’s our money. It’s our money,” Tharoor said.
Tharoor draws ire
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor drew massive fire from his own party over his remarks on PM Modi’s speech.
Last week, Tharoor took to X to post in detail the references from PM Modi’s speech at the sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture, organised by The Indian Express.
In a post on X, Shashi Tharoor wrote, “Attended PM @narendramodi’s Ramnath Goenka Lecture at the invitation of @IndianExpress last night. He spoke of India’s ‘constructive impatience’ for development and strongly pushed for a post-colonial mindset.”
“…PM Modi said he’d been accused of being in ‘election mode’ all the time, but he was really in ’emotional mode’ to redress the problems of the people,” Tharoor had said.
He said, “On the whole, the PM’s address served as both an economic outlook and a cultural call to action, urging the nation to be restless for progress.”
Tharoor said he was glad to have been in the audience despite a bad cold and cough.
Reacting to this, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit had asked why Tharoor was in the party if he felt the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and PM Modi’s strategies were better.
Dikshit said that Tharoor should give an explanation for his remarks, and if he does not do so, then he is a “hypocrite”.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said that she did not find anything “praiseworthy” in PM Modi’s speech, adding that she rather found it to be “petty”.
Shrinate said she did not understand how Tharoor found a reason to appreciate it.
