The Congress on Sunday drew a clear line between itself and senior leader Shashi Tharoor after his public praise for BJP veteran L.K. Advani stirred unease within party ranks.
Tharoor, in a post on X, had wished the former deputy prime minister on his 98th birthday, hailing his “unwavering commitment to public service” and “decency.”
The post drew sharp criticism, with lawyer Sanjay Hegde accusing Advani of sowing “dragon seeds of hatred,” a reference to his role in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
Tharoor stood his ground, responding that it was “unfair” to judge any leader by one controversial episode alone.
“Agreed, @sanjayuvacha, but reducing his long years of service to one episode, however significant, is also unfair. The totality of Nehruji’s career cannot be judged by the China setback, nor Indira Gandhi’s by the Emergency alone. I believe we should extend the same courtesy to Advaniji,” he said.
His clarification, however, did little to calm tempers within the Congress, where many viewed the praise as politically tone-deaf.
“Like always, Dr. Shashi Tharoor speaks for himself,” Congress media head Pawan Khera said on X, adding that the party “outrightly dissociates itself” from the remarks.
“That he continues to do so as a Congress MP and CWC member reflects the essential democratic and liberal spirit unique to the INC,” Khera added.
Advani, widely seen as the architect of the BJP’s rise, was conferred the Bharat Ratna earlier this year.
The controversy comes close on the heels of another Tharoor statement that rankled Congress loyalists.
In an article for Project Syndicate titled Indian Politics Are a Family Business, the Thiruvananthapuram MP argued that India must “trade dynasty for meritocracy,” warning that lineage-based politics poses a “grave threat” to democracy.
“When political power is determined by lineage rather than ability or commitment, the quality of governance suffers,” Tharoor wrote, in remarks many in the BJP seized upon as a veiled criticism of the Gandhis.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said Tharoor had become “khatron ke khiladi,” taking jabs at the Congress high command.
Congress MP Udit Raj, however, defended political dynasties, arguing that nepotism exists across professions. “A doctor’s son becomes a doctor, a businessman’s child continues in business. Politics is no exception,” he said.
This is not the first time Tharoor has tested the party’s patience. Earlier this year, he called Narendra Modi “undoubtedly the most dominant political figure in the country,” triggering discomfort among Congress leaders wary of giving the Prime Minister unsolicited credit.
