Congress cites Shashi Tharoor's own book to target him
What's the story
Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday took a veiled dig at party colleague Shashi Tharoor by sharing a page from the latter's own book, The Paradoxical Prime Minister. In the book, Tharoor had criticized the Modi government for "shamelessly exploiting" the 2016 surgical strikes for electoral gains and stated that the Congress had authorized several such operations earlier without politicizing them.
Twitter Post
Read the post here
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
Book reference
Khera challenges Tharoor's claims with book excerpt
Khera's post came after Tharoor's remarks in Panama, where he praised the Modi government's response to terrorism. Tharoor had said, "What has changed in recent years is that the terrorists have also realized they will have a price to pay. "When, for the first time, India breached the LoC between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launchpad - the Uri strike in September 2015. That was already something we had not done before."
Clarification issued
Tharoor clarifies remarks, faces internal criticism
"Even during...Kargil War, we had not crossed the Line of Control; in Uri, we did, and then came the attack in Pulwama in January 2019. This time, we crossed not only the LoC but also the international border, and we struck the terrorist headquarters in Balakot. This time, we have gone beyond both of those," he said. The remarks drew a lot of backlash from his party colleagues for overlooking the many surgical strikes conducted under the UPA regime.
Support extended
Tharoor responds to criticism
Amid the criticism, Tharoor responded to "zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valor," stating that his remarks were about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not past 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," Tharoor responded.
Diplomatic mission
Tharoor leads delegation for India's global outreach
Tharoor is currently leading a multi-party delegation as part of India's global outreach following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. Besides Tharoor, the delegation includes Sarfraz Ahmad (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), GM Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi (BJP), Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP), Milind Deora (Shiv Sena), Tejasvi Surya (BJP), and former ambassador of India to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu. The delegation is now headed to Bogota.