Where Does Shashi Tharoor Go From Here?

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June 09, 2025 13:21 IST

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The political and ideological differences between the Congress and Shashi Tharoor is no longer a matter of whispers.

IMAGE: Shashi Tharoor in a telephone conversation with United States Senator Cory Booker, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in Washington, DC, June 7, 2025. Photograph: ANI Photo
 

Once hailed in the West as 'India's Rasputin' and considered the de facto number two to Jawaharlal Nehru, V K Krishna Menon embodied the paradox of being a global citizen who struggled to belong within his own party.

Menon's eventual exile from the Congress mainstream remains a study in political alienation -- one that, increasingly, observers in Kerala now see echoed in the trajectory of Shashi Tharoor, member of the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram.

IMAGE: Shashi Tharoor in a discussion with American think-tanks on Operation Sindoor global outreach. Photograph: ANI Photo

Tharoor, like Menon, is internationally popular, and seen as independent-minded.

And like Menon, he is now grappling with a widening gulf between himself and the Congress that once celebrated him.

The latest friction arose over his nomination to the Union government's foreign outreach initiative after Operation Sindoor -- a move that has drawn more ire from his party than from political rivals.

IMAGE: Shashi Tharoor pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.
Bharatiya Janata Party MPs Shashank Mani Tripathi, Bhubaneswar Kalita, former Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, JMM MP Sarfaraz Ahmad, Telugu Desam Party MP Ganti Harish Madhur, India's Ambassador to the United States Vinay Mohan Kwatra are also seen. Photograph: ANI Photo

The political and ideological differences between the Congress and Tharoor is no longer a matter of whispers.

Though divergence between his post-ideological, neo-liberal views and the Congress' traditional line on the matter of development has surfaced repeatedly, this time, it is his apparent alignment with a nationalist narrative -- similar to that of the BJP -- that has stirred the pot.

"Tharoor's case can be compared to that of Menon," says Sunnykutty Abraham, a veteran political commentator.

"A person with a global citizen image, failing to adjust to the party lines. The only difference is, at that time, the Congress was at its strongest point with Nehru and others around."

IMAGE: Shashi Tharoor meets CNN's Wolf Blitzer at a reception hosted by India's Ambassador to the United States Vinay Mohan Kwatra. Photograph: ANI Photo

Abraham argues that Tharoor is unwittingly echoing BJP rhetoric in ways the Congress finds hard to accept.

The government's decision to appoint Tharoor as head of a multi-party delegation tasked with presenting India's position on terrorism, particularly regarding Pakistan, was met with swift pushback.

His name was notably absent from the four-member list submitted by the Congress for the mission. Yet he was on the plane, leading the conversation abroad.

Among the most vocal critics was Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, who quipped: 'Congress mein hona aur Congress ka hona mein zameen-aasmaan ka antar hai' -- being in the Congress and being of the Congress are worlds apart. He likened the party to the Ganga, with many tributaries, 'some of them dry up and some get polluted'.

IMAGE: Shashi Tharoor meets US Senator Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Photograph: ANI Photo

Tharoor's remarks on the 2016 surgical strike across the Line of Control -- where he acknowledged it as India's first such cross-LoC retaliation for terrorism -- added fuel to the fire.

Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera promptly flagged Tharoor's own words from his 2018 book The Paradoxical Prime Minister, where he had accused the BJP of 'shamelessly exploiting' the strikes for electoral gain.

At the time, Tharoor insisted that the Congress had authorised similar covert operations without politicising them.

IMAGE: Shashi Tharoor and former ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu in conversation with Ricky Gill, special assistant to President Donald Trump, at Ambassador Kwatra's reception. Photograph: ANI Photo

To Khera's remarks, Tharoor replied 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.'

His comments, he added, had been framed by reference to 'several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone'.

IMAGE: Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Trump and senior director for counter terrorism, at Ambassador Kwatra's reception. Photograph: ANI Photo

To many in Kerala, these developments mirror deeper undercurrents.

Tensions within the Congress' state unit are playing out in parallel.

Tharoor's own rising stature and recurring calls for a greater role in party affairs have unsettled others with chief ministerial ambitions -- among them Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal, Leader of Opposition in the state V D Satheesan, and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala.

IMAGE: Shashi Tharoor, BJP MPs Bhubaneswar Kalita, Tejaswi Surya and Shashank Mani Tripath with US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. Photograph: ANI Photo

The recent appointment of Sunny Joseph, a leader from Kannur, as Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president ahead of the 2026 assembly elections has also added to speculation of internal balancing acts.

Tharoor, who has the backing of key allies like the Indian Union Muslim League, is viewed in some quarters as a political threat, not least because he was once labelled a 'parachute' candidate when he first stood from Thiruvananthapuram in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

"He is not above the Congress that has given him a seat to contest, and the party workers who helped him in his victory. There is a line that you should follow in Indian politics," says J Prabhash, political analyst and former pro vice-chancellor, Kerala University.

This is not the first time the party and Tharoor are on different pages.

When the Congress opposed the privatisation of Thiruvananthapuram airport and its handover to the Adani group, the MP openly backed the project, positioning himself as pro-industry.

He repeated this stance during the Vizhinjam port protests, where Congress support for agitating fishermen was met by Tharoor's endorsement of the infrastructure initiative.

Most recently, ahead of Kerala's global investors' summit, he penned a newspaper article describing the state as 'investor-friendly' -- a phrase that jarred with the party's official line that Kerala was an industrial laggard.

IMAGE: Shashi Tharoor, Ambassadors Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Vinay Mohan Kwatra, BJP MPs Tejaswi Surya and Shashank Mani Tripathi with US Senator Chris Van Hollen. Photograph: ANI Photo

"He obviously owes some commitment to the party. He cannot speak in a way that gives political mileage to the BJP on key issues," argues Abraham.

Speculation is now mounting over whether Tharoor sees a future for himself within the Congress at all -- or whether he is charting a more independent path as a global citizen.

While he has always dismissed any suggestion of joining the BJP, theories abound: A possible second attempt at the UN secretary-general post with tacit government support (arguably a long shot), a lateral move to key posts in India, or simply a transition to life above the party fray -- India's statesman without portfolio.

In 1957, V K Krishna Menon famously spoke for over eight hours at the UN Security Council, defending India's position on Kashmir -- a feat that earned him the moniker 'Hero of Kashmir'.

As Shashi Tharoor spearheads India's global narrative after Operation Sindoor, he may well be shaping his own legacy as another kind of hero on the global stage.

'Tharoorism' over the years

 

2006

Contested for the United Nations secretary-general's post
 

2009

Wins from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat for the first time; takes charge as minister of state for external affairs
 

2010

Resigns as minister after allegations that he had misused his office to get a share in an IPL franchise
 

2012

Becomes Minister of State for Human Resource Development
 

2014

Gets dropped from the Congress spokesperson list for praising PM Narendra Modi
 

2019

Appointed chairperson of the parliamentry standing committee on communications and IT
 

2024

Becomes chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs
 

2025

Leads a multi-party delegation to various nations to explain India's position on terrorism after Operation Sindoor
 

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/ Rediff
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff

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