Surjewala calls Tharoor 'part of Congress family' to pacify party leaders

Congress' Randeep Singh Surjewala made these remarks after Shashi Tharoor in Panama mentioned that India has changed its approach in the past few years

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Thursday said that Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor’s recent remarks about the surgical strikes were factually incorrect.

 

Surjewala made these remarks after Tharoor, who is leading an all-party delegation across five countries, to partner nations to emphasise India’s zero tolerance to terror and ‘Operation Sindoor’, in Panama, noted that India has changed its approach in the past few years. Tharoor also made references to the surgical strikes India made in 2016 and 2019.

 

Tharoor vs Congress

 

Following Tharoor's remarks, some Congress leaders expressed their disagreement. Congress leader Udit Raj in a post on X said, “How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi, India never crossed LoC and the International border?”

 

Elaborating on it, Raj added, “In 1965, the Indian Army entered Pakistan at multiple points, which completely surprised the Pakistanis in the Lahore sector. In 1971, India tore Pakistan into two pieces, and during the UPA government, several surgical strikes were unleashed, but drum beating was not done to encash it politically. How could you be so dishonest to the party that gave you so much?”

 

Raj’s sentiment was echoed by another Congress leader, Pawan Khera, who quoted from Tharoor's book ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister’ stating, “The shameless exploitation of the 2016 surgical strikes along the Line of Control with Pakistan, and a military raid in hot pursuit of rebels in Myanmar, as party election tool - something the Congress had never done despite having authorised several such strikes earlier - marked a particularly disgraceful dilution of the principle that national security issues require both discretion and non-partisanship.”

 

Tharoor responds to criticism from Congress

 

In response to comments from several Congress leaders, Shashi Tharoor took to X, clarifying that his remarks in Panama were “only reprisals for terrorist attacks”. Tharoor explained, “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.”

 

Surjewala’s attempt at pacifying party leaders

 

On Thursday, Surjewala told reporters that Tharoor is a senior Congress leader and part of the Congress family, but his remarks about the surgical strikes were factually incorrect.

 

Defending the party leaders, Surjewala said the party had only tried to correct the record by pointing out that the surgical strikes in Pakistan and also at other dens of terrorists “were regularly executed” during the Congress-led UPA government to give a befitting reply to terrorists.

 

(With agency inputs)