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Kerala: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Saturday that he has never violated the party’s declared policy or line inside Parliament. He clarified that his only public disagreement at the level of principle has been regarding Operation Sindoor.

Answering questions during a session organized at the Kerala Literature Festival, Tharoor said that he had strongly expressed his stand on this issue and he has no regrets on his stand even today.

What was Tharoor’s stance on Operation Sindoor?

Shashi Tharoor told that as an observer and writer, he had written a column in a newspaper after the Pahalgam incident. In this he had said that this incident should not be left without punishment and a strict and effective action is necessary in response to it.

He also said that India’s main focus is on development, hence the country should not get entangled in any long conflict with Pakistan. According to Tharoor, the scope of any action should be limited and its objective should be to target only terrorist hideouts.

The government did what I suggested

Tharoor said he was surprised to learn that the Indian government took exactly the steps he had recommended in his column. He stressed that it is important to think beyond personal or political differences on issues like national security.

Speculation of differences with party leadership

This statement of Shashi Tharoor has come at a time when recent reports have revealed differences between him and the party leadership. These reports speculated that she was angry at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s lack of adequate acknowledgment of her presence during an event in Kochi and alleged attempts to marginalize her at the state level.

However, instead of commenting directly on these speculations, Tharoor only clarified his principled stand.

When India is at stake, India first

Shashi Tharoor quoted the famous statement of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and said "If India ceases to exist, who will survive?"

he adds, "When India is at stake, when it comes to India’s security and its place in the world, then India comes first."

Tharoor said differences between political parties can be part of the process of building a better India, but when it comes to national interests, the country should be paramount.