synopsis

Congress MP Udit Raj slammed party colleague Shashi Tharoor for praising military strikes under PM Modi during a visit to Panama, accusing him of echoing BJP propaganda and ignoring Congress-era military achievements.

In an evident sign of internal discord within the Congress party, MP Udit Raj on Wednesday sharply criticised fellow Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor over his recent comments made during a multi-party delegation visit to Panama.

 

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Udit Raj accused Tharoor of acting like a “super spokesperson of the BJP” by praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of cross-border military operations. “Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is the super spokesperson of the BJP. What BJP leaders are not saying, Tharoor is saying in favour of PM Modi and the government,” Udit Raj told ANI.

Tharoor, while addressing a gathering in Panama, had said that terrorists now realise there is a price to pay for attacking India. He cited India's 2016 surgical strike across the Line of Control (LoC) following the Uri attack, and the 2019 Balakot airstrike following the Pulwama bombing.

“Even during the Kargil War, we had not crossed the LoC. But in Uri, we did. After Pulwama in January 2019, we crossed both the LoC and the international border. We struck the terrorist headquarters in Balakot and other terror bases deeper inside Pakistan,” Tharoor said.

Taking strong exception to this, Udit Raj posted on X, “How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi, India never crossed the LOC or international border? In 1965, the Indian Army entered Pakistan at multiple points, surprising them in the Lahore sector. In 1971, India tore Pakistan into two. During the UPA government, several surgical strikes were also carried out—but without drum-beating to gain political mileage. How could you be so dishonest to the party which gave you so much?”

Notably, Tharoor is leading an all-party delegation on a government-sponsored global outreach programme visiting the United States, Guyana, Panama, and other nations. However, he was not among the official names recommended by the Congress to the Centre for these delegations.