Shashi Tharoor, the four-time Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram, has ruffled a few feathers in the Congress in Kerala by praising the state’s start-up economy under the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.

Tharoor wrote an opinion piece titled “Changing Kerala: Lumbering jumbo to a lithe tiger” in The New Indian Express in which he said that “Kerala is beginning to stand out as a model of economic innovation and sustainable growth”.

“That this economic transformation has begun to occur under a Communist-led LDF government seems astonishing, but it is not entirely surprising,” he wrote.

Tharoor’s praise for the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s strides in the industrial sector has not gone down well with the state Congress leadership, which has always maintained that development has come to a standstill in Kerala.

Opposition leader V.D. Satheesan on Saturday said Kerala had been facing an
economic rut under the LDF government.

“I don’t know under which circumstances Tharoor wrote the article praising the investment scenario in Kerala. Currently, Kerala is not a state with an excellent business environment. The Congress party will examine Tharoor’s stand,” Satheesan said.

Tharoor’s praise for the state government comes at a time when the Opposition is gearing up to launch a massive agitation against it.

Congress state president K. Sudhakaran, who shares a good rapport with Tharoor, adopted a cautious approach by claiming that he had not read his article.

AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal distanced himself from Tharoor’s remark and said his article would be examined.

However, AICC general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh came out in Tharoor’s support without naming him.

“The Indian National Congress is our country’s ONLY political party where there is absolute freedom of speech as well as freedom after speech. Members give their views on issues which are, on occasion, their own and that do not reflect the opinion of the party as a collective entity. It is the party’s stance that is paramount,” Ramesh posted on X.

Speaking to the media outside his home here on Saturday evening, Tharoor said: “I’m someone who acknowledges the good when governments, whether central or state, do well, and criticises them when they do wrong. Investment is essential for
the future of our children. Some matters should be viewed beyond politics. People in Kerala have seen a lot of politics, but they haven’t seen enough development.”

“I had stated my points in the article based on all available data. The Opposition leader should read my article. Earlier, a particular group focussed only on creating obstacles, but now they’re taking action, which cannot be ignored,” he added.

The CPM’s mouthpiece, Deshabhimani, carried the Malayalam translation of Tharoor’s article on Saturday, which was shared by the party’s social media handles.

Vijayan claimed that Tharoor’s views could not be dismissed as a mere comment. “Tharoor has come out with statistics on how Kerala has made strides in the IT start-up sector on global perspectives,” the chief minister said.

In his article, Tharoor had also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Much to the happiness of the BJP camp, Tharoor wrote: “US President Donald Trump’s words sound like something Mr Modi can put in the bank, that sounds very good”.

On Friday, Trump had hailed Modi as a “much tougher negotiator than me, and he is a much better negotiator than me. There is not even a contest”.