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Tag: Shashi Tharoor

  • Use influence to mediate truce between Russia, Ukraine: Tharoor to Modi government

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Congress’ Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday asked the government to use its influence to mediate a truce between Russia and Ukraine engaged in a war for over 40 days.

    Participating in a short discussion on the ‘Situation in Ukraine’ in the House, he said India should not shy away from taking a morally correct position in line with its foreign policy.

    About the country’s foreign policy, Tharoor stressed, “it is neither Congress’ nor BJP’s foreign policy but it is Indian foreign policy.”

    India, he said, could offer itself in a “mediating capacity” and play a role in putting an end to the conflict.

    Referring to the softly-worded statements on the Russia-Ukraine war at the United Nations, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said, “We need to take a principled stand on such matters, with moral conviction.”

    In this case, Russia has started the war, he said and added that India cannot endorse Moscow’s action.

    On India getting a lot of military supplies from Russia, Tharoor said the country pays in “top dollars” and it was not a one-way relationship.

    The former Union minister also expressed concern about the emerging Russia-China-Pakistan axis.

    With Russia becoming weak on account of sanctions, China will get an upper hand and “it is a matter of great concern” for India, he added.

    The Congress member also criticised the remarks of certain BJP leaders and ministers that only those students who could not qualify National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) go to Ukraine for medical education.

    Such statements at the time of crisis reflect poorly on the nation, he said, adding the government must seriously rethink medical education in the country.

    Appreciating ‘Operation Ganga’ under which 18,000 students were brought home from war-ravaged Ukraine, he said some embassies were probably quicker in evacuating their citizens and hence there are lessons to be learnt for India.

    Tharoor said it was unfortunate that students stranded in war-hit Ukraine had to walk long distances to reach the bordering nations from where they were transported back to India.

    Referring to certain videos on social media, he criticised Indian ministers for “publicity mongering” on foreign land which, he added, “was unnecessary.”

    “We don’t need publicity in other countries,” Tharoor said.

    Participating in the discussion, BJD MP Pinaki Misra praised the government for not yielding to hectoring by the US on the Russia-Ukraine war issue.

    He said it was the US that used nuclear weapons and has a history of waging wars in several countries including Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

    Misra also asked the Indian government to mediate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

    The BJP’s Brijendra Singh demanded that something must be done to ensure the students returning from Ukraine can complete their education.

    Trinamool leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay wanted to know the status of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise that returning students were likely to be absorbed in colleges in Hungary.

    Thamizhachi Thangapandian of the DMK urged the government to play the role of an honest negotiator in ending the ongoing conflict.

  • Need to develop all-weather deep-water port in India, says Shashi Tharoor in LS

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday stressed on developing an all-weather deep-water port near international sea routes, saying “a vast majority” of container ships coming to India are transhipped to Colombo and elsewhere due to the lack of significant domestic ports here.

    This has also given China a tremendous dominance in the Indian Ocean, he said in the Lok Sabha while participating in a discussion on demands of grants for the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

    “Colombo is transhipping more Indian goods…than any of India’s major ports. In fact, all the so-called major ports (in India) put out together does not match that in Colombo,” Tharoor said.

    “Now what’s worrying about this is (that) there is a serious geostrategic angle for us being dependent upon Colombo for such a large portion of our goods. Because it is, after all, a port where the Chinese are extremely active. A Chinese firm has just been awarded an eastern container terminal at Colombo port,” the former minister of state for external affairs added.

    He said the development of ports in India is “important” as ships carry 90 per cent of the world’s goods around the globe.

    “And, in India’s case, it’s even more because 95 per cent of the volume of cargo come to our country by shipping, not by any other means,” Tharoor added. He said India has a wonderful and one of the most impressive coastlines in the world.

    “We should have developed our ports, which I am sorry to say, we have not yet done so,” he said, adding it’s because the resources, given to the ministry by Parliament since 2017-18, remains “underutilised” The Congress MP also questioned the government’s policy, saying “there is a piquant situation that India prohibits Chinese firms from investing in building our ports but in effect, we are condoning transhipment of the lion’s share of our cargo via a port operated exclusively by China”.

    “And, where Chinese navy vessels and submarines were regularly calling for resupply,” he added. Noting that shipping is growing bigger, he said larger ships require deeper ports. In the case of India, it has to be “unfortunately extremely expensive”, created through dredging, Tharoor said.

    The major shipping lines are not stopping at Indian ports because of “very high” logistics cost involved, he said, adding, “This, in fact, means that our economy is helping to pay for foreign ports.” Tharoor said the solution to the problem is available in his Lok Sabha constituency Thiruvananthapuram and urged the government to declare Vizhinjam port as “a major port”.

    “The Vizhinjam port is an amazing place. It is right there in the international shipping lines and it has an extremely decent connection which can be improved by the government. It has a natural deep draft of 20-24 four metres,” he said.

  • ‘Adopt model of collective, inclusive leadership’: G-23 to Congress top brass as Sonia suggests changes

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Amid fast-paced developments in the beleaguered  Congress on Wednesday, its G-23 rebels advised the party leadership that the only way forward is to adopt a model of collective and inclusive leadership and decision making at all levels.

    The statement was issued after a dinner meeting at veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s residence. 

    The G-23 meeting was earlier scheduled to be held at Kapil Sibal’s house but was shifted at the last minute as leaders like ex-Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were not comfortable with his attack on the Gandhis.

    Sibal is currently in the eye of a storm as he said upfront that the Gandhis should let someone else head the Congress. 

    The G-23 statement also demanded that the party leadership initiate talks with like-minded forces to build a credible alternative ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

    “The next steps in this regard will be announced soon,” the statement jointly issued by 18 leaders said. 

    What was interesting about the gathering was the presence of Rajiv Gandhi loyalist Mani Shankar Aiyar. Other additions were Patiala MP Preneet Kaur and ex-Gujarat CM S S Vaghela. Old faces like Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor,  Prithviraj Chavan, Vivek Tankha, Raj Babbar, Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Sandeep Dikshit were also present. 

    The dissidents had thrown the door open to those who were not part of G-23 but shared concerns about the party’s future. In Parliament, Congress president Sonia Gandhi aggressively attacked social media giants for allegedly siding with the ruling BJP during the recent state elections.

    Later in the day, she appointed senior leaders to assess the situation and suggest organisational changes in all the five states where Congress was routed.

    A day earlier, she had sought the resignations of five PCC chiefs.

    The newly appointed leaders are Jairam Ramesh (for Manipur), Ajay Maken (Punjab), Rajani Patil (Goa), Jitendra Singh (UP) and Avinash Pandey (Uttarakhand). 

    The G-23 saw some more leaders joining the dinner meeting at Azad’s residence, which was convened to work out the grouping’s future strategy and discuss the Congress’s debacle in the just-concluded Assembly polls in five states.

    The meeting lasted for over four hours and all the leaders spoke about the strategy to be adopted.

    Sources said Azad also spoke to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and conveyed to her the feelings of the grouping while assuring her of their support in strengthening the organisation.

    Azad and Anand Sharma reposed faith in Gandhi’s leadership at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Sunday.

    Incidentally, the grouping sidestepped the issue of leadership, after Kapil Sibal said Gandhi should step aside and pave the way for another leader.

    The leaders said they met to deliberate on the demoralising outcome of the recent poll results and the constant exodus of party leaders and workers.

    “We believe that the only way forward for the Congress is to adopt a model of collective and inclusive leadership and decision making at all levels.”

    “In order to oppose the BJP, it is necessary to strengthen the Congress party. We demand the Congress party to initiate dialogue with other like-minded forces to create a platform to pave the way for a credible alternative for 2024,” the joint statement of the G-23 said.

    The next steps in this regard will be announced soon, it added.

    Sources said the grouping had earlier planned a dinner at Sibal’s residence, but it was changed at the last minute.

    Among the leaders who attended the meeting were Sibal, Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Vivek Tankha, Raj Babbar, Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Sandeep Dikshit.

    The ambit of the G-23 grouping widened this time as some more leaders — Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former Punjab chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurian and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma joined the dinner meeting, besides MA Khan.

    The grouping had given an open invite to other Congressmen to join them at the dinner meeting.

    The sources said the meeting was convened to apprise all the G-23 members of the decisions taken at the crucial CWC meet.

    Two prominent G-23 members — Azad and Sharma — were to appraise the other members of the developments at the CWC meeting and what they said on strengthening the party in the wake of its drubbing in the Assembly polls, they said.

    The performance of the Congress in these states was poor as it failed to win any of the four BJP-ruled states — Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur — while it lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

    The G-23 grouping has been critical of Congress’ leadership.

    It has been demanding an organisational overhaul after its members wrote a joint letter to Gandhi in 2020.

    The sources said invitations were also extended to the Congressmen who do not constitute the bloc but feel that changes are required, including at the leadership level, to revive the party’s electoral fortunes.

    The decision to convene a meeting of the G-23 came a day after Gandhi sought the resignation of the Congress presidents of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.

    Sibal, in his latest salvo targeting the Congress leadership, had said the Gandhis should step aside and give some other leader a chance to helm the party, provoking a backlash from the Gandhi family loyalists, who accused him of speaking the language of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

    The G-23 has, however, got weakened over time with senior leader M Veerappa Moily distancing himself from the group, Jitin Prasada joining the BJP and Mukul Wasnik not attending its meetings in recent times.

    Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday engaged five senior leaders to assess the post-poll situation in five states and suggest organisational changes following its electoral debacle, a day after the state unit chiefs were asked to resign.

    Rajya Sabha MP Rajani Patil has been asked to assess the situation in Goa, Jairam Ramesh in Manipur and Ajay Maken in Punjab, where the Congress lost power to the Aam Aadmi Party.

    Congress leader Jitendra Singh will to asses the post-poll situation in Uttar Pradesh and suggest changes, while Avinash Pandey has been asked to do so in Uttarakhand.

    “Congress president has appointed leaders to assess the post-poll situation and suggest organisational changes in the states (with inputs) from MLA candidates and important leaders with immediate effect,” an official communication said.

    The Congress fared poorly in the just-concluded assembly elections by failing to win back any of the BJP-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur and losing Punjab to the AAP.

    The Congress Working Committee had discussed the reasons for the poll debacle and authorised Sonia Gandhi to initiate necessary changes in these states after the drubbing.

    Gandhi Tuesday had asked the chiefs of its Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur units to submit their resignations.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Time to reform Cong’s organisational leadership in manner that inspires people: Tharoor

    “One thing is clear — Change is unavoidable if we need to succeed,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

  • Needed to stand up, not stand aside: Oppn leaders flay govt over stand on UNSC resolution on Ukraine

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Several opposition leaders criticised the government on Saturday after India abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution on the Russian attack on Ukraine, saying it needed to stand up against the wrong and not stand aside.

    Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said “there comes a time when nations need to stand up and not stand aside”. 

    “I sincerely wish India had voted in solidarity with the people of Ukraine at UNSC who are facing an unprecedented and unjustified aggression. ‘Friends’ need to be told when they are wrong,” he said.

    Echoing his view, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said in an article: “Invasion is Invasion; we should tell our friend Russia.” “If ‘friends’ can’t speak honestly to each other, what is the friendship worth,” Tharoor asked.

    “India’s decision to abstain in the United Nations Security Council vote on Friday night, on a resolution that would have deplored Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, did not really come as a surprise,” the former Minister of State for External Affairs said.

    Tharoor also said, “After our abstention, many regretted that India had placed itself on the ‘wrong side of history’.”

    Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi accused the government of hypocrisy and said, “Interestingly those who can’t stop abusing and criticising India’s first PM, Nehru, are using the non-alignment policy to justify their position in the UN.”

    “Abstain from voting against a war doesn’t make your relationship better but makes your principles weaker against violence and human rights violations,” the Rajya Sabha member said.

    “Tomorrow it could be us not getting support against China. Today we stood on the same side as China, that speaks loads about our foreign policy.”

    “Having said that, besides a resolution condemning Russia’s action, what is the UN’s role going to be to help Ukraine on ground? Ally countries are expressing words of support but have left Ukraine alone to defend and fight for itself. The UN will need to relook at its relevance in the New World Order,” Chaturvedi said.

    Russia used its veto power to block the US-sponsored resolution that sought to deplore in the “strongest terms” Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine.

    In the 15-member UN Security Council, the resolution received 11 votes in favour of it, Russia opposed it and India, China and the United Arab Emirates abstained from the voting.

    By abstaining from voting on the resolution, India retained the option of reaching out to all relevant parties to find a middle ground and foster dialogue and diplomacy to defuse the crisis, official sources said on Saturday.

    Though India abstained from voting on the resolution, it called for respecting “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of States and sought immediate cessation of “violence and hostilities”, in comments that the sources said reflected a “sharper tone” and criticism of the Russian offensive.

  • Shashi Tharoor’s retweet draws flak from Indian embassy in Kuwait

    By Express News Service

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor found himself in a spot after he retweeted a Pakistani national’s tweet which said Kuwaiti politicians had asked their government to ban the entry of BJP leaders from India following the hijab row.

    The Indian embassy in that Gulf country reacted quickly, saying the original tweet was from a Pakistani agent engaged in anti-India activities. “Sad to see an Hon’ble Member of Indian Parliament retweeting an anti-India tweet by a Pakistani agent who was recipient of a Pakistani Award ‘Ambassador of Peace’ for his anti-India activities. We should not encourage such anti-India elements,” the Indian embassy in Kuwait tweeted.

    Tharoor said he does not endorse the individual, but is concerned about the sentiment he (the Pakistani citizen) conveys on the hijab row and Muslim girls in India.

  • Must learn to be less thin-skinned: Shashi Tharoor on protest over Singapore PM’s remarks

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said it was most unseemly for the Ministry of External Affairs to “summon” the envoy of a friendly country like Singapore over remarks by their prime minister to their own Parliament, and asserted that “we must learn to be less thin-skinned”.

    Tharoor’s remarks came after India on Thursday lodged a strong protest with Singapore over the comments made by its Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that almost half of the lawmakers in the Lok Sabha have criminal charges pending against them and suggesting a decline in the country’s democratic polity from “Nehru’s India”.

    We should have handled the matter with a statement saying “we heard with interest the PM’s remarks. But we don’t comment on other countries’ internal matters, nor on debates in foreign Parliaments, & urge everyone to follow the same principle.” Far more effective &less offensive.
    — Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) February 18, 2022
    “Most unseemly for MEA to summon the HC of a friendly country like Singapore over some remarks by their PM to their own Parliament,” Tharoor said in a tweet. “He (Lee) was making a general (& largely accurate) point. Given the stuff our own pols utter, we must learn to be less thin-skinned!” the former minister of state for external affairs said.

    “We should have handled the matter with a statement saying ‘we heard with interest the PM’s remarks. But we don’t comment on other countries’ internal matters, nor on debates in foreign Parliaments, & urge everyone to follow the same principle. Far more effective & less offensive,” Tharoor said in another tweet.

    Singapore’s high commissioner to India Simon Wong was called to the Ministry of External Affairs and he was conveyed that the comments were “uncalled for” and that India objected to them strongly, according to sources.

    In his nearly 40-minute speech, the Singaporean prime minister had talked about how a democratic system needs lawmakers with integrity and invoked India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to stress how democracy should work in the city-state.

  • Cuts in social welfare schemes, no steps to address inflation or job creation: Shashi Tharoor slams Budget

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Attacking the Centre over Budget 2022-23, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said there were significant cuts in allocation of social welfare schemes, no measures to address rising inflation and nil targeted effort for job creation.

    Initiating the discussion on the Budget in Lok Sabha, Tharoor said COVID-19 pandemic has placed citizens in unimaginable distress who suffered a lot of pain due to loss of lives between March and May last year.

    In this context, he said, the presentation of the budget cannot merely be seen as a purely routine economic exercise or state forward accounting, adding that the budget is an instrument through which the government presents a political vision to manage the economy, heal the country and set it on the path to recovery.

    “The budget has given a significant slashing in MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) scheme, more tokenism in credit support for MSME sector, no changes in personal income tax regime and no relief in terms of addressing rising inflation as well as nil targeted efforts for job creation,” he said.

    The Budget has proposed creation of “inadequate” 60 lakh jobs in five years, which is “a far cry from the 2 crore jobs the government had promised in the equally illusory “acche din” (good days), Tharoor said.

    He added that there are reductions in budgets for social welfare schemes and significant cuts in schemes for crop insurance, MSP (minimum support price) and fertliser, which has left many farmer groups to term this Budget as a “revenge budget”.

    The Congress leader also claimed a huge dip in the incomes of lakhs of people in the last five years.

    While the wealth of richest 100 Indians soared by Rs 57 lakh crore, 4.7 crore Indians slipped into extreme poverty, he said, adding that the government has not recognised the problems which they have caused and the widespread anguish they have inflicted on “aam aadmi” (common man).

    People, he said, were expecting that the government will acknowledge the problem that the nation is facing, “acknowledge the fact that the nation is facing unprecedented levels of unemployment which has left countless citizens, specially our youth and dynamic working group population, with little prospects of brighter tomorrow”.

  • Party aware of my view that we should not disrupt, but use parliament for debate: Tharoor

    He said his party is aware of his view that 'we should not disrupt' but use parliament as a platform for debate, and do rallies and agitations elsewhere.

  • Shashi Tharoor-led parl panel questions MeitY officials on Pegasus, hacking of PM’s Twitter handle

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Top officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) were on Monday queried about the hacking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter handle and the Pegasus issue by a parliamentary panel led by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, sources said.

    The officials deposed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology on the subject of safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms, including special emphasis on women security in the digital space.

    During the course of the proceedings, panel chairman Tharoor questioned about the alleged hacking of phones using spyware Pegasus, to which the officials responded that the matter is subjudice, sources said.

    “When Tharoor sought their cooperation, officials simply ducked the question by saying that they have nothing to say on Pegasus,” a source claimed.

    Members of the panel also questioned MeitY officials about the hacking of Prime Minister Modi’s Twitter handle, but sources claimed the officials appeared clueless about the issue and stated what was already available in the public domain.

    Prime Minister Modi’s Twitter handle was briefly hacked on Sunday and a tweet claiming that India has “officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender” was put out from it.

    The Prime Minister’s Office later said the account was immediately secured after the matter was escalated to Twitter.

    According to reports, Twitter has stated that it is directly in touch with PMO over the issue.

    This is not the first time that a Twitter handle associated with the prime minister has been compromised.

    In September 2020, the handle of his personal website was hacked and even then tweets promoting bitcoin, seen to be linked to a scam, were posted from @narendramodi_in.

    Modi’s accounts are not alone in being targeted by hackers for pushing bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, as handles of several noted public personalities, including Barack Obama and Bill Gates besides those from fields like entertainment, have been targeted in the past.