Remaining firm on his stance, he told presspersons on Wednesday (March 19, 2025) that he had expressed his opinion as an Indian and he did not see politics in it. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The BJP on Wednesday (March 19, 2025) lauded Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s remarks appreciating the neutral position taken by India in the Russia-Ukraine conflict even as the Congress maintained a studied silence.
During an interactive session titled “Waging peace: looking back to look ahead” at the Raisina Dialogue here on Tuesday (March 18, 2025), Mr. Tharoor said he had opposed India’s stance when the war broke out, but the country was now in a position to make a difference for lasting peace.
“I am still wiping the egg off my face because I am one person in the parliamentary debate who actually criticised the Indian position at the time back in February 2022,” he said.
Remaining firm on his stance, he told presspersons on Wednesday (March 19, 2025) that he had expressed his opinion as an Indian and he did not see politics in it.
Mr. Tharoor, a former Minister of State for External Affairs who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, said at the session that his criticism was based on the “well-known grounds that there was a violation of the UN charter, there had been a violation of the principle of inviolability of borders, of the sovereignty of a member state namely Ukraine, and we had always stood for the inadmissibility of the use of force to settle international disputes”.
“All of those principles had been violated by one party, and we should have condemned it. Well, three years later, it does look like I am the one with the egg on my face because clearly, the policy has meant that India has actually a Prime Minister who can hug both the President of Ukraine and the President in Moscow two weeks apart and be accepted in both places.”
Rahul’s remarks
His remarks are in consonance with those of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. At a press conference in London in September 2023, Mr. Gandhi, when asked for his views on Modi government’s stance on the conflict, had said, “I think the Opposition, by and large, would agree with India’s current position on the conflict.”
Mr. Gandhi further said, “We have a relationship with Russia. And I don’t think the Opposition would have a different view than what the government is currently proposing.”
Lok Sabha MP and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday (March 19, 2025) said other Congress leaders should follow Mr. Tharoor’s example. “He thinks that the statements he made regarding the Russia-Ukraine war in the past were not right. The policies of the Indian government were right… Better late than never… The decisions made by the Modi government are in the favour of the nation… The way Shashi Tharoor has admitted, other leaders of Congress should do the same,” Mr. Prasad said.
BJP MP Sambit Patra said Mr. Tharoor, who had had a long stint in the UN, understood diplomacy well.
“Other leaders of Congress should also learn from Mr. Tharoor Instead of speaking against Mr. Modi and the nation every time… Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi should come forward and appreciate Mr. Tharoor’s stand,” he said.
Published – March 19, 2025 11:39 pm IST