Attack on Tharoor shows his party’s intolerance
The Congress’s petty-minded response to its Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor’s acceptance to be a part of the Union Government’s Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, demonstrates the level of insecurity that pervades the Opposition party. Congress leaders, especially from Kerala, have even gone to the extent of threatening disciplinary action against Mr Tharoor if he did not “stop praising Modi”. It would appear that the Congress MP had committed a terrible mistake which could cost his party dear. The bare fact is that Mr Tharoor accepted an invite from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in a campaign that has got nothing to do with politics. Indeed, while launching Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, the Prime Minister had made it a point to acknowledge the good work which preceding Governments, including that of the Congress, had done in promoting the idea of a clean India. Mr Modi’s appeal had cut across party lines, and various public figures, not just from politics but also from social, entertainment and sports areas, have participated in it. Mr Sachin Tendulkar, a Rajya Sabha member nominated by the Congress, did his bit, and so did many others. Clearly, the Congress believes that its job is to oppose every single move that emanates from the Prime Minister, regardless of its merit. Mr Tharoor has given a fitting response to the criticism he has been facing from within his party, saying that Mr Modi’s appeal was non-political in nature and that he (Mr Tharoor) accepted it in a similar spirit. It is difficult to understand where the breach of party discipline lies, in the eyes of those baying for the Congress MP’s blood. Mr Modi is no longer just a leader of a political party; he is the country’s Prime Minister. But some people like Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar continue to have difficulty in accepting this reality — as also the fact that the people of the country have placed Mr Modi in the position that he enjoys. Mr Aiyar’s relevance is now limited to the verbal crackers that he now and then explodes. Taunting Mr Tharoor for feeling “honoured” by the Prime Minister’s invite, Mr Aiyar said he felt honoured at not being invited! The remark does nothing to save his sinking image.
Mr Tharoor would be realising the perils of being civil and courteous and for trying to rise above petty politics, while being in the Congress. So vicious has been the onslaught he has faced from his own that he was forced to ‘clarify’ that he stood opposed to the “core Hindutva” agenda of the BJP. The Congress MP need not have taken the trouble because those like Mr Aiyar will not be convinced by reason. As for the clamour in the Kerala unit of the Congress for his head, this needs to be understood in the context of the politics that is going on there between various factions within the party. Each of these groups is trying to demonstrate its unquestioned loyalty to 10 Janpath — and what better way to do so than to make the supreme sacrifice of hanging one of its ownIJ
This is not the first time that Mr Tharoor has come under fire for being ‘soft’ on Mr Modi. He had been ridiculed earlier for commending the Prime Minister’s outreach to India’s neighbours. This is perhaps what prompted a senior Congress leader from Kerala to say that Mr Tharoor had been “praising Modi to the hilt for sometime now”.