'Becoming the advocate of BJP?': Congress leader slams Shashi Tharoor
What's the story
Congress leader Udit Raj has slammed his party colleague Shashi Tharoor for his comments on the Pahalgam terror attack. Raj questioned Tharoor's loyalty to the Congress party and said he was acting like a spokesperson for the BJP. "I want to ask Shashi Tharoor, is he in the Congress party or the BJP? Is he trying to become a super-BJP man?" he questioned.
PoK question
Raj challenges Tharoor's statement on PoK
Raj also challenged Tharoor to ask the BJP government when they are taking Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). "Shashi Tharoor should ask the BJP when the government is taking the PoK? Has Shashi Tharoor become the advocate of the BJP?" This came after Tharoor hinted that ironclad intelligence was impossible and a failure could have led to the attack.
Comparison
Tharoor compares Pahalgam attack to Israel's intelligence failure
Tharoor had implied that the April 22 Pahalgam terror strike could have been a consequence of intelligence failure, comparing the incident to Israel's intelligence failure during the Hamas attack in 2023. "Obviously, there was no foolproof intelligence. There was some failure... But we have got the example of Israel, the world's best intelligence services according to everybody, which was taken by surprise on October 7, just two years ago."
Accountability
Tharoor advocates for accountability after crisis
"Similarly, I think we too should see the present crisis through and then demand accountability from the government. No country can ever have a foolproof 100 percent intelligence," he was quoted as saying by ANI. Tharoor also pointed out that the successful prevention of terror attacks is usually overshadowed by failures. "We only learn about the ones that we failed to thwart... There were failures, I agree, but that should not be our main focus right now," he said.