Refusing to join issue with China over Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India on Tuesday expressed hope that Chinese 'rhetoric' will stop after the Tibetan leader's trip comes to an end. Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor also rejected as 'silly' -- the reminder about 1962 war by an anonymous Chinese scholar in a newspaper article there -- and underlined that India has come a long way since then.
India does not wish to destabilise Pakistan in any manner and wants to maintain good relations with that country, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said in Palakkad on Thursday.
India supports American efforts in Pakistan, but is concerned about the diversion of United States' aid and military equipment by Islamabad against it.
India has charged Pakistan of using 'jihadi' elements to "destabilise" it and Afghanistan and expressed willingness to normalise relations with Islamabad if it takes one step towards peace. "It (Pakistan) has been one of actually using jihadi militants as an instrument of destabilisation in both Afghanistan and India. And we think that's wrong," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor recently made his first foray to the United Nations -- where he had served for more than two decades as Under Secretary General of Communications -- over two-and-a-half years after his unsuccessful bid for the position of UN Secretary General.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has learnt that humour has no place in Indian politics. George Joseph meets the newly-cautious Tharoor, and finds out why the satirical novelist enjoys being part of the Indian government.
"The action that is expected from Pakistan has to take place before we can engage once again in the kind of comprehensive dialogue process that we want," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said.
Continuing to 'tweet' his opinion despite receiving flak, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor now feels people should work rather than enjoy a holiday on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to downplay the comments of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on austerity on Twitter saying "it was a joke".
Tharoor has nearly 175,000 followers on Twitter. An account that he started when he launched his election campaign now may now cost him dear as voices urging him to log off Twitter keep getting louder by the day.
Perhaps chastised by the recent criticism from his party high command and the general public, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has apologised for his recent comment that he was prepared to travel in the "cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows".
India on Monday said it was not surprised over former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's admission -- of use of United States' military aid against it during his tenure -- and asked countries providing such help to be 'extremely responsible'. "It doesn't come as a surprise. We have been arguing for some years now that the only problem we have with the US military aid to Pakistan is its misuse against us," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said.
Speaking to media persons outside his South Block office in New Delhi, Tharoor said: "We know Pakistan has been misusing US aid for years. I am not surprised by former President Musharraf's statement. This confirms India's stand on the misuse of aid. The United States should monitor aid given to Pakistan more carefully."
Expect the unexpected when it comes to Test cricket says Indian batting ace Sachin Tendulkar, who recalled how Wasim Akram peppered him with bouncers even as he expected yorkers in his maiden Test series in Pakistan. Tendulkar was speaking in Mumbai on Friday at the launch of a book Shadows across the playing field, authored by India's Minister of state for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor and former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman and diplomat Shaharyar Khan.
"It is not a sign of mounting tension....it is a sign that your government is determined to protect the borders of India and takes its responsibilities seriously," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said in Thiruvananthpuram while reacting to media reports on the matter.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Thursday defended Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on the joint statement issued after his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egypt.However, his statement had few takers, and most experts feel that the reference to Baluchistan in the joint statement would prove to be a costly blunder.The Bharatiya Janata Party has also criticised Dr Singh.
According to an official in the finance ministry, Pushkar, if an employee of Rendezvous, would have to pay 33 per cent perquisite tax. Otherwise, she is liable to pay gift tax under section 56 of the Income Tax Act, since the shares were given to her without taking any consideration (compensation). "The value of shares will be determined by a merchant banker if it is a perquisite tax," the official said.
Kenney Jacob, an online supporter, has been a very active campaigner and feels that Shashi Tharoor is 'nothing but a victim.' He spoke to rediff.co's Vicky Nanjappa about the page, and how Tharoor is trending online today:
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late on Sunday night, the second time in a day, amidst speculation that he may resign.
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi on Sunday exuded confidence of resolving the controversy over ownership of Kochi franchise saying he had no personal issue either with the team owners or Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.
Beleaguered Minister for State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday amidst indications that he may get a reprieve at least, for the time being.
Central security agencies have traced a local phone number from which the alleged death threat from Dawood Ibrahim gang was made to an aide of Minister of State External Affairs Shashi Tharoor. Official sources said on Wednesday the number used for sending the alleged threat SMS, received by the personal staff of Tharoor, belonged to Delhi circle and the hunt for the sender is on.
Speaking on the IPL controversy involving Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said that he had to ascertain all the facts after he returned to India on April 17, before taking any action in the matter.When he was asked if Tharoor would be sacked over the Kochi IPL team controversy, the PM said, "I have heard about these things. I don't have all the facts before me and when I go back, I will get all the facts."
The party leadership has been left red-faced following the ugly war of words between Tharoor and the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party demanding that the minister be sacked on charges of corruption and that a CBI probe be constituted into the entire IPL goings-on.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday hit back at IPL commissioner Lalit Modi alleging he had made attempts to pressure the winning consortium to abandon their bid for the Kerala outfit.
The Indian Premier League's new franchise Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) has threatened to sue IPL commissioner Lalit Modi for breaking the confidentiality terms.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor himself may not be a stakeholder but the lady he is reportedly planning to marry is part of the consortium which owns the Kochi franchise of the Indian Premier League, revealed IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
Saudi Arabia can be a 'valuable interlocutor' between India and Pakistan, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said on Sunday and subsequently clarified that he did not mean that Riyadh should be a mediator.
Tharoor talked to Dr Singh over phone on Sunday morning and explained that the media had misinterpreted his comments, which he had made as chairman of a seminar at the Indian Council of World Affairs on Friday.
A day after his reported remarks at an academic seminar on international relations created a flutter in the Congress, Tharoor called a press conference in his office and said he was dismayed at the "inaccurate and tendentious reporting".
Author and politician Shashi Tharoor chats with Sumita Vaid Dixit about writing, tweeting and world affairs.
Seeking to explain the absence of the terror activities directed against India, in the United State's new Af-Pak strategy, India has said the Barack Obama administration was 'looking at' terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad 'off-camera'.Welcoming the Af-Pak policy unveiled on Tuesday, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said the pressure maintained by the US on the Taliban and the Al Qaeda there is in the interest of India.
India on Saturday said it wishes to see that 'exemplary punishment' is given to the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, who have been charge-sheeted in a Pakistani anti-terror court.
"Indian democracy provides for both kinds (elected and nominated). Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, if he had chosen to contest this year, would have certainly won from anywhere in the country," Tharoor said.
On his maiden visit to the city, minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor conceded that the short-coming in the current visa regulations had led to the inflow of blue-collared workers on business visas, especially from China.
India has a 'fundamentally healthy' relationship with China that goes beyond the boundary issue, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor stated on Tuesday."The relationship should not be seen only in the context of the problems, it should also be seen in the context of the opportunity," he said when asked about the India-China border talks last week. Tharoor said, "We are very pleased to say that, by and large, the relationship remains healthy."
On the eve of boundary talks, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said China has no "locus standi" on a key irrigation project in Arunachal Pradesh which it is opposing as the state is integral part of India.
Ahead of Foreign Minister S M Krishna's maiden visit to Australia, India has said it was still concerned over the safety of its students studying in the country, though New Delhi did not want the issue to 'infect' bilateral relations. Hoping that the attacks on Indian students will not affect the Indo-Australian relationship, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said that the matter will only die down when the attacks stop or become rare.
In an effort to check forgeries and misuse of passports, the government is rolling out e-passports that will carry biometric information in a chip.
Indian Premier League (IPL) Commissioner Lalit Modi on Friday accused Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor of having an agenda in promoting the Kochi IPL fanchise, and asserted that he won't let that agenda succeed.