'Have better things to do': Tharoor hits back at Congress over Op Sindoor remark

Apparently responding to the backlash from the party leaders, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday (May 29) clarified that his remark on India’s surgical strike was distorted and that he was referring to the recent terror attacks, and not the previous wars.

His reaction comes a day after the Thiruvananthapuram MP on Wednesday stated that India crossed the Line of Control (LoC) for the first time in September 2016 under the Modi government.

Also read | Tharoor’s articulate defence of Modi regime abroad deepens fault lines within Congress

Tharoor came under fire for his remarks praising the Modi government’s response to the Pahalgam terror attack. His comments invited sharp responses from various party leaders. Congress leader Udit Raj spoke against Tharoor's comments on X, saying, “Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is the super spokesperson of the BJP, and what the BJP leaders are not saying, speaking in favour of PM Modi and the government, Shashi Tharoor is doing...Does he (Shashi Tharoor) even know what the earlier governments used to do?”

‘Don’t have time for this’

Taking to social media platform X, Tharoor said, “After a long and successful day in Panama, I have to wind up at midnightvhere with departure for Bogota, Colombia in six hours, so I don’t really have time for this — but anyway: For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC: in tge past” (sic), Tharoor wrote on X on Thursday.

“1. I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars; &

2. 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,” (sic), he wrote.

“But as usual, critics and trolls are welcome to distort my views and words as they see fit. I genuinely have better things to do. Goodnight,” added the Congress MP in the eye of the storm.

‘Other cheek’ warning to Pak

Meanwhile, Tharoor on Wednesday issued a stern warning to Pakistan, declaring that India will retaliate forcefully against any future terrorist attacks on its soil. Quoting the Father of the Nation, the former diplomat said the days of turning the other cheek are over. “Even the land of Mahatma Gandhi will not turn the other cheek when this happens, we will respond,” he said at an event hosted by the Indian embassy in Panama.

Tharoor, who is leading one of the all-party delegations on Operation Sindoor, highlighted Mahatma Gandhi's teaching of living without fear and said that one must stand up for their rights.

Also read | Op Sindoor: Tharoor praises Modi; Congress leader calls him BJP's 'super spokesperson'

“We must always stand up in principle for the values we believe in, and we must live without fear that freedom from fear is what we in India have to fight for these days against the evil attacks of malign men who are called by the world as terrorists, but who believe that by doing this kind of thing of coming into our country, killing innocent people and going off again that they will somehow achieve some larger political or religious cause as you can imagine, that is not something that any self-respecting country will give into, and even the land of Mahatma Gandhi will not turn the other cheek when this happens, we will respond,” he said.