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Tensions between the Congress and its MP Shashi Tharoor escalated on Thursday with the party saying he was very much part of their family but had erred in claiming that surgical strikes against Pakistan were held for the first time in 2016. Tharoor, who is heading a multi-party delegation to five countries, including Panama and the US, had a ready riposte for the jibes by some of his party colleagues.

 

Earlier, responding to the criticism faced by his own party over his stance on Operation Sindoor, the Congress MP clarified that his comments were solely about India's restrained responses to recent terrorist attacks, not past wars, and accused his critics of deliberately distorting his words. Tharoor is leading one of India's multi-party delegations, conveying New Delhi's anti-terror message on the global stage. 

 

Tharoor wrote on X, "For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC, In the past -- I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars. 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. But as usual, critics and trolls are welcome to distort my views and words as they see fit. I genuinely have better things to do." 

 

After a long and successful day in Panama, i have to wind up at midnightvhere with departure for Bogota, Colombia in six hours, so I don’t really have time for this — but anyway: For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC: in tge…

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 29, 2025

 

No acrimony among Congress leaders - Surjewala - 

 

Trying to pacify frayed tempers, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said there is no acrimony among leaders of the party. He told the media, "Shashi Tharoor is a senior Congress leader and very much part of the Congress family However, what he said about the surgical strike was factually incorrect."

 

"The Congress party only corrected the record by pointing out that the surgical strike on Pakistan and also at other places in the den of terrorists were regularly executed during Congress-led UPA government to give a befitting reply to terrorists by our armed forces and the then Congress Government," he added when questioned on the war of words between some Congress leaders and Tharoor. Instances of surgical strikes during the Congress-led UPA government have been detailed in the past by the AICC Communication department and by Tharoor himself in his 2018 book "The Paradoxical Prime Minister", the Congress leader said.

 

Also Read: We heard their cries and avenged Sindoor with blood: Tharoor

 

"Even former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the past spoke about these surgical strikes. Mr Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera have set the record straight. It should not be a matter of any acrimony or doubt," Surjewala said.

 

Why is Congress upset with Tharoor?

 

Tharoor has come under stringent criticism by several Congress leaders, including media and publicity department head Pawan Khera and party leader Udit Raj, for not mentioning surgical strikes against Pakistan during the UPA government in his presentations abroad. The comment referred to a video that combined a part of Tharoor’s speech in Panama with sharp criticism.

 

"Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is the super spokesperson of the BJP, and what the BJP leaders are not saying, speaking in favour of PM Modi and the government, Shashi Tharoor is doing... Does he (Shashi Tharoor) even know what the earlier governments used to do?... They (the Central government) are taking credit for the Indian Armed Forces," Udit Raj had said.

 

The digs continue -

 

The Congress' digs continued on Thursday with Raj saying what the Kerala MP had said was a "lie and a conspiracy to destroy the Congress".

 

"The delegations which have been sent are trying to destroy the name of the Congress... Shashi Tharoor says that before PM Modi's leadership, we never crossed LoC or any international border with Pakistan. It is a big lie and a big conspiracy to destroy the history of the Congress which needs to be replied to," Raj cited.

 

"He should focus on his duty rather than criticising the Congress party… Congress took required measures in the past but never publicised it or used it as a medium of collecting votes in their favour," he added. Raj's remarks were reposted on X by Congress general secretary-in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh.

 

Agree with Tharoor, says Pawan Khera -

 

Khera also shared a screenshot from Tharoor's book in which he criticised the Modi government for allegedly exploiting the 2016 surgical strikes politically.

 

"I agree with Dr Shashi Tharoor who wrote about surgical strikes in his book in 2018 - ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister’", said Khera.

 

"The shameless exploitation of the 2016 'surgical strikes' along the Line of Control with Pakistan, and a military raid in hot pursuit of rebels in Myanmar, as a party election tool--something the Congress had never done despite having authorized several such strikes earlier--marked a particularly disgraceful dilution of the principle that national security issues require both discretion and non-partisanship," Tharoor writes in the book.

I agree with that Dr @ShashiTharoor who wrote about surgical strikes in his book in 2018 - ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister’. #ReadingNow pic.twitter.com/hAhsfwH0JT

— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) May 29, 2025

Tharoor's Panama statement - 

 

"Our Prime Minister has made it very clear. Operation Sindoor was necessary because these terrorists came and wiped the sindoor off the foreheads of 26 women, depriving them of their husbands.... We heard their cries and India decided that the colour of the Sindoor, the vermilion colour on the forehead of our women, will also match the colour of the blood of the killers, the perpetrators, the attackers."

 

Congress, which had earlier promised full support to the Central government after the 22 April terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, questioned the government to clarify the role of United States President Donald Trump in the ceasefire.

 

BJP's support -

 

Tharoor also received support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after facing criticism from the Congress for backing the Centre on Operation Sindoor. Coming forward in support of Tharoor, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the grand old party (Congress) for criticising one of its leaders. He wrote on X, "What does the Congress party want & How much they really care for the country?  Should the Indian MPs go to foreign nation and speak against India and its Prime Minister? There's a limit to political desperation!."

 

कांग्रेस का हाथ किसके साथ? क्या कांग्रेस पार्टी में देश के लिए बोलना मना है?
We Indians must speak in one voice in crucial time at least !! pic.twitter.com/tabXcGSm98

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 28, 2025

 

Also Read: Cong’s Udit Raj slams Tharoor for pro-BJP stance