Shashi Tharoor fixes India map blunder on by Congress presidential poll manifesto
Tharoor's manifesto booklet -- with the tagline 'Think Tomorrow, Think Tharoor' -- has a map with a network of dots depicting Congress units across the country. However, the map left out parts of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh illegally occupied by Pakistan and China.
FollowCongress party presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor landed in controversy when he shared a distorted map of India in his election manifesto. The distorted map of India omitted portions of Jammu and Kashmir. The error, though, seemed to be inadvertent and was fixed moments later.
This is the second time Tharoor has been caught up in such a controversy. Three years ago, Tharoor, then a former union minister, had landed in a map-in-a-booklet controversy when he shared publicity material on social media about a Kerala Congress protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) with a flawed map. He had to delete the tweet after members of the Bharatiya Janata Party slammed him over it.
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This time around, his manifesto booklet -- with the tagline 'Think Tomorrow, Think Tharoor' -- has a map with a network of dots depicting Congress units across the country. However, the map left out parts of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh illegally occupied by Pakistan and China.
Earlier in the day, Tharoor filed his nomination form for election to elect the next Congress party president. After filing his nomination, Tharoor said: "It is a privilege to serve the only party in India with an open democratic process to choose its leader. Greatly appreciate Soniaji’s guidance and vision."
He told media persons that the party needed decentralisation. "We must serve the people of India. We are not an election machine for winning polls every five years," Tharoor said.
Talking to media persons, Tharoor sought the party's organisational culture be re-imagined, authority decentralised, and the grassroots office-bearers truly empowered.
He said that state and grassroots leaders and workers needed to delegate powers to create strong state-level leadership, which, in the past, strengthened the Congress' national appeal.
Stating that he has several ideas to reform and re-energise the party after the recent electoral setbacks, Tharoor said he took the decision to contest as it would strengthen the Congress. Among other things, the 66-year-old leader said he wanted to decentralise authority within the party, give 'karyakartas' more access to the leadership at all levels and increase consultative mechanisms.
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