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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday, May 29, clarified his remarks on India’s cross-border military actions after his comments during a global outreach programme praising the Modi government’s response to terrorism sparked criticism within his own party.
Tharoor’s statement came a day after he said that the first time India crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to strike a terror base in Pakistan was during the 2016 Uri surgical strikes, and that Operation Sindoor had gone even further, targeting multiple terror installations across the border. His remarks were seen as an endorsement of the BJP-led government’s assertive military posture, leading to sharp reactions — particularly from fellow Congress leader Udit Raj.
In a post on X from Panama, where he is currently on an official visit, Tharoor pushed back against the criticism. “For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC: I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars,” he wrote.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP emphasised that his statement was contextual and specific to India’s military responses to terror attacks in recent years, and not a commentary on India’s broader military history. “My remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone, during which previous Indian responses were both restrained and constrained by our responsible respect for the LoC and the IB (International Border),” Tharoor explained.
Taking a swipe at his critics, the Congress leader added, “The critics and trolls are welcome to distort my views and words as they see fit. I genuinely have better things to do. Goodnight.”
The controversy erupted after Tharoor, speaking at the outreach event, dramatically praised Operation Sindoor, stating: “Our Prime Minister made it clear, Operation Sindoor was necessary because terrorists came and wiped the ‘sindoor’ off the foreheads of 26 women…but India decided that the vermillion colour of the ‘sindoor’ will also match the colour of the blood of the killers, the perpetrators of the attack.”
Tharoor said his remarks were framed as a rhetorical tribute to India's counter-terror operations. They were however interpreted by some as an implicit endorsement of the Modi government's military decisions, and a revisionist take on India’s military history under Congress-led regimes.
Congress leader Udit Raj led the charge from within the party, calling Tharoor “dishonest” and accusing him of undermining the Congress’s own legacy. “How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi, India never crossed LoC and International Border,” Raj posted on X. In a sarcastic jibe, he added: “I could prevail upon PM Modi to declare you as super spokesperson of BJP, even declaring (you) as foreign minister before landing in India.”