The irrepressible Shashi Tharoor is in a fresh controversy over his comments commending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit and the outcome of his talks with Donald Trump as well as an op-ed article in a newspaper praising the entrepreneurial growth of Kerala under the Left Front government. The central party leadership tried to deflect the embarrassment of Tharoor’s comments on Modi’s visit to the US as the party’s communication in-charge, Jairam Ramesh, put out a self-righteous tweet lauding inner-party democracy in the Congress party that allowed leaders to air their views freely. The Kerala unit of the Grand Old Party was more forthright in its condemnation of Tharoor for praising the LDF government in Kerala, saying the state’s economy is in a shambles. This is not the first time that Tharoor has gone against the party line while commenting on issues.
When the entire Congress unit in Kerala was leading an agitation against the Silver Line rail project initiated by the Left government, Tharoor came out openly in praise of the plan, saying it was the only project that could save Kerala. He also supported the Adani-helmed Vizhinjam port project, though the Congress in the state opposed it. In fact, his support for the port project cost him some valuable votes in the fisherfolk community. Only some desperate damage control allowed him to retain the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat for the fourth time in succession.
Tharoor has always been one to speak his mind, and given his intellectual heft, he is extremely qualified to air his opinions on a wide variety of subjects. The fact is the Congress party has not always given him his due, though he has been an outstanding parliamentarian. He asks pertinent questions, makes meaningful zero-hour submissions and puts in a lot of homework when he speaks in the various debates. He has also made a valuable contribution to the parliamentary panels that he is a member of. Tharoor is not a run-of-the-mill politician given his background in international diplomacy and his other life as an author and historian. Unkind assumptions have been made about him switching sides, but he has so far remained loyal to the Congress party. Perhaps his greatest asset is that he is not seen to be part of any faction in the party. He is very much his own man, as was evident when he decided to contest the Congress president’s election.
Though he was defeated, he managed to secure a sizeable number of votes. The fact that he has been allowed to function relatively unimpeded despite his decision to go against the ‘family’ is also evidence that the Grand Old Party is evolving, even if the wheels of change are grinding very slowly.
