Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday announced he would not be accepting the Veer Savarkar Award, which was to be presented to him by a Kerala-based NGO in the national capital.

Claiming that he had heard about the award announcement only on Tuesday when he was in Kerala to vote for the local body elections, Tharoor posted on X: "I had clarified that I was neither aware of, nor had accepted, such an award and it was irresponsible on the part of the organisers to announce my name without my having agreed to receive it.

"Despite that, today in Delhi, some media outlets continue to ask the same question. Therefore, I am issuing this statement to clarify the matter unequivocally. In the absence of clarifications about the nature of the award, the organisation presenting it or any other contextual details, the question of my attending the event today or accepting the award does not arise."

The award in the name of Hindutva ideologue Savarkar was announced by RSS-linked Highrange Rural Development Society (HRDS), an NGO working for the welfare of tribes in Palakkad. The announcement had angered a sizable section of Congress leaders in Kerala, upset with Tharoor’s perceived dalliance with the BJP. There was a clamour from within the Congress that he should not accept the award.

Tharoor was one among six awardees and defence minister Rajnath Singh was to give away the awards at an event at the NDMC Convention Centre in New Delhi on Wednesday evening.

Earlier in the day, Tharoor’s office informed that he would neither accept the award nor attend the ceremony, stating that the announcement was made without his knowledge or consent. "This is the first time he had heard about such an award. Also, he has no idea why his name was announced," Tharoor’s office had informed.

According to HRDS, Tharoor was chosen for the Savarkar International Impact Award for his interventions and influence in the national and international arenas. They also claimed that Tharoor had promised to make it to the event. Aji Krishnan, secretary of HRDS India, told a news channel that the NGO’s office-bearers and the jury chair had visited Tharoor at his home to extend the invitation. He added that Tharoor had wanted to know the list of the other awardees.