Is he ditching the Congress for the Bharatiya Janata Party? Is he gunning for the Kerala chief minister’s post? Is he in love again, or planning yet another wedding?
When it comes to Shashi Tharoor, the flamboyant, 69-year-old, four-time member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, who is also a renowned author and a former United Nations under-secretary-general, the rumour mill never sleeps. And let us be honest, Tharoor himself is not exactly one to keep things boring. The ex-diplomat and wordsmith extraordinaire has a knack for keeping everyone — supporters, critics, and headline writers — on their toes with his dramatic moves and high-octane vocabulary.
Despite his many books and speeches questioning the Hindutva ideology, talk of Tharoor joining the BJP has resurfaced — this time triggered by his wholehearted support for the Narendra Modi government’s military action against Pakistan, the subsequent ceasefire, and his appointment as the head of one of the seven all-party delegations tasked with explaining India’s position on the latest India-Pakistan flare-up to the world. Tharoor’s enthusiastic alignment with the Modi government sharply contrasted with the Congress’s more critical stance. Even after the Centre named him to lead the delegation, intended clearly as a political surgical strike, the Congress excluded him from the list of the four members of Parliament it nominated for the team. But Tharoor stuck to his guns, backing the government’s line even as the Congress voiced serious reservations about Operation Sindoor and several party colleagues called for disciplinary action, accusing Tharoor of “crossing the Lakshman rekha”. But in the end, with public sentiment running high and Tharoor’s popularity too valuable to ignore, the Congress leadership let it slide, saying that he was simply expressing his personal opinion.
Expressing irritation at the persistent media speculation on the matter, Tharoor clarified, yet again, that he had no intention of joining the BJP. Yet, undeniably, there has been a noticeable uptick in his eulogising of Modi — mirroring, perhaps, his growing frustration with the Congress leadership, which has repeatedly sidelined him. Tharoor’s contest against Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress’s official candidate in the 2022 party presidential election, along with his alignment with the G23 rebel group, also underscored his discontent. The list of G23 rebels proved how the insecure coterie of sycophants surrounding Rahul Gandhi ensured that he was inaccessible to anyone within the party with competence and independent thinking. Although a proclaimed secularist, several of Tharoor’s views — they are seen to reflect a ‘soft Hindu’ stance — have also contributed to speculation about his possible drift toward the BJP.
In March, Tharoor confessed that he had egg on his face for opposing the government’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine War. He now held that Modi’s decision not to condemn Russian aggression helped India be in a position to make a difference to a lasting peace. Subsequently, Tharoor hailed the government’s ‘vaccine diplomacy’ during Covid-19 as a powerful example of international leadership rooted in responsibility and solidarity.
Early this year, Tharoor applauded the trade negotiations held in the United States of America between Modi and President Donald Trump. He congratulated Modi for being referred to as a tough negotiator by Trump. Tharoor was unhindered by the Congress’s scathing attack on Modi’s mission, especially his failure to raise the issue of the shabby treatment of Indian illegal migrants.
In February, Tharoor welcomed the revival of the free trade agreement negotiations between India and the United Kingdom. He also posted a selfie on X with the Union commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, and the UK’s secretary of state for business and trade, Jonathan Reynolds. Around this time, Tharoor also lauded the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala government for its pro-business policies. Earlier, in a podcast, Tharoor said that though he would not join the BJP, he had the option to be independent. “Some in my own party oppose me, but I speak for India and Kerala’s future. If the party wants to utilise my strengths, I will be there. If not, I have other options”.
Many wonder how a member of the Congress Working Committee, its highest decision-making body, can repeatedly embarrass the party. This tendency may stem from Tharoor’s core identity as a creative thinker and writer rather than a conventional career politician. Interpreting it merely as an opportunistic move or a desire to abandon a sinking ship may be too simplistic. After all, Tharoor’s willingness to praise Modi when he believes it is warranted is not a recent development. In an article he wrote for an American news website over a decade ago, Tharoor remarked that Modi was looking to turn himself from a “hate figure into an avatar of modernity and progress” after the 2014 elections.
Perhaps this made Modi nominate Tharoor, then an official Congress spokesperson, among nine prominent Indians to join the Swachh Bharat mission that he launched on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary in 2014. Tharoor responded by saying that it was an honour to be in the campaign. This led to his removal from the post of party spokesperson. A few months later, he irked his party again by calling Modi a master communicator and congratulating him for enhancing India’s image abroad.
In 2019, Tharoor felt vindicated when two top Congress leaders, Jairam Ramesh and Abhishek Singhvi, too, cautioned against “demonising” Modi. He asked Kerala’s Congress leadership, which had reprimanded him for his softline towards Modi, to point out any other from the state who had made at least 10% of his efforts to study, research and oppose the Modi government. “I had argued for six years now that Narendra Modi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing, which would add credibility to our criticisms whenever he errs,” he said. He also tweeted that he welcomed others in the Opposition “coming around to a view for which I was excoriated at the time!”. In September 2023, Tharoor heaped laurels on Modi for the successful conduct of the G20 Summit and referred to the Delhi Declaration as a diplomatic triumph.
Tharoor has consistently maintained that he is not a conventional career politician, often choosing to praise or criticise individuals not based on their political affiliations but on the merit of their actions. “I opposed Nehru’s licence-quota-permit raj, I opposed the BJP’s Hindutva and communal agenda, I oppose Left ideology. I opposed the Emergency; it was wrong and suspended our liberties and freedom of expression. I have criticised everyone at some point. I have opinions, and sometimes they are not liked by my party,” he once said.
Tharoor embodies the spirit of the contemporary post-politics era, wherein pragmatism is privileged over ideology. While critics argue that this neoliberal phenomenon fosters a superficial consensus across parties and erodes the foundations of true democracy, it seems to be gaining strength, especially among the burgeoning middle class.
With Tharoor announcing that he will not contest the Lok Sabha elections again and the Congress’s return to power at the Centre still a distant prospect, his focus appears to be the 2026 Kerala assembly elections. Surely, Tharoor remains the Congress’s most compelling hope for a revival in Kerala thanks to his appeal that cuts across traditional political and social boundaries. Yet, his most formidable challenge comes not from rivals outside the party but from within, where leaders otherwise divided on most issues find common cause in opposing his ascent.
M.G. Radhakrishnan, a journalist based in Thiruvananthapuram, has worked with various print and electronic media organisations