On 18 May, Communist Party of India state secretary Binoy Viswam launched a broadside at Shashi Tharoor, likening the Thiruvananthapuram MP to a Bharatiya Janata Party sleeper cell within Congress. The former Kerala minister, a sporadic presence on X, was apparently referring to Rahul Gandhi’s comments about BJP moles within Congress.
The soft-spoken Viswam’s uncharacteristic attack on Shashi Tharoor stood out for its sharpness, given that both of them share a good personal equation. Just last year, Viswam had confided ahead of an interview with ThePrint how the CPI had offered the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha ticket to Shashi Tharoor. The offer was made in the wake of a rift between the Congress leadership and Tharoor, after his contest for the All-India Congress Committee presidency.
Tharoor acknowledged the Left’s offer following his own interview later that day—underscoring how he is hot property for political parties including the Left, the BJP, and even the Trinamool Congress. It is only the Congress that seems to undervalue Tharoor, disregarding his mass appeal and profile as a ‘global citizen’. After having won a hard-fought election defeating arch-nemesis Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Tharoor was hoping for a bigger role in the party—only to be snubbed.
Detractors in Kerala Congress
There are others who suggest that Shashi Tharoor has been given more than his due. He was promoted as a permanent member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC)—the party’s highest decision-making body—and nominated as chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.
There has been a renewed attack on Tharoor from his colleagues in Kerala Congress, cutting across factional affiliations. From Youth Congress Kerala general secretary Jinto John to veteran Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Shashi Tharoor has become a punching bag for Congress leaders who are keen to prove their loyalty to the Congress High Command—read, KC Venugopal, the General Secretary (Organisation).
Even PJ Kurien—himself out of favour with Rahul Gandhi for supposedly having been on good terms with Narendra Modi—found it obligatory to issue a statement against Tharoor. The immediate issue triggering the synchronous attack was the Congress party’s loss of face after Shashi Tharoor defied the party to lead a delegation of MPs abroad, as part of the Operation Sindoor outreach.
There is also a growing sense in the Congress that Tharoor is seeking a way out of the party—with his repeated flouting of the official line since before the Pahalgam massacre. And the prime minister seems to be egging him on to hog the limelight at the expense of his party, often juxtaposing him with Rahul Gandhi.
Also read: What if Congress loses Tharoor? Rahul Gandhi is preparing for a re-do of Punjab in Kerala
Tharoor’s gripe
Shashi Tharoor has been neglected within the Congress. Despite being the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, he has hardly had any say in formulating or shaping the foreign policy line of the Congress, beyond attending CWC meetings. On many occasions, senior Congress leaders are left to back up Rahul Gandhi’s quixotic assertions on X, whether logically sustainable or not.
A recent case in point is Gandhi’s attack on External Affairs minister S Jaishankar—on the charge that the diplomat-turned-politician had forewarned Pakistan on Operation Sindoor. The veterans—some of them compatriots of Rajiv Gandhi, such as P Chidambaram—may still root for Gandhi’s inane contentions out of their affection.
As for Shashi Tharoor, he never struck a personal rapport with Rahul Gandhi in the first place. In fact, it was only after Tharoor kicked up a storm with his column in The New Indian Express—giving a back-handed compliment to the Left in Kerala—that he got a one-on-one audience with Gandhi. Anyhow, that meeting could hardly assuage Tharoor’s concerns.
Shashi Tharoor, while the most popular Congress leader in Kerala today, is very much behind KC Venugopal, Ramesh Chennithala, and VD Satheesan in the chief minister race. With no more appetite left for another Lok Sabha contest after his term ends in 2029 – and the Congress being in no shape to challenge the BJP at the Centre – he knows that his time is running out.
Also read: Where does Shashi Tharoor fit in Kerala Congress? His timing is always off
Tharoor’s options
Despite Shashi Tharoor’s eagerness to answer the call of duty after Operation Sindoor, he is acutely aware of the pitfalls of accepting any position offered to him by the Union government. Contrary to what many people might imagine, joining the BJP is not really an option for Tharoor – even in the extreme scenario of getting expelled from the Congress. This is not due to any electoral considerations whatsoever.
There is something called intellectual integrity. Joining the BJP will at once discredit everything he has stood for and documented since his early days as an author. He has been an important chronicler of Indian politics for over four decades, and his lofty ambitions will be tempered by the necessity to remain intellectually honest.
Shashi Tharoor’s equation with the newly-minted Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar is a strained one. He was, after all, hounded by Republic TV – where Chandrasekhar was a prominent shareholder – following his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death in 2014. And Tharoor isn’t known for hurling personal barbs at political opponents, something the BJP expects of turncoats welcomed to the party, such as the high-flying Jyotiraditya Scindia.
If Tharoor switches sides, he would have to reconcile with his own masterly deconstruction of Narendra Modi’s diplomacy in The Paradoxical Prime Minister, in a section he has aptly titled ‘Flights of Fantasy’. In it, Tharoor recalled his time as the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, and summarised Modi’s foreign policy as a “tale of much activity and few results”. All of this will be hard to look past.
Also read: Bilawal Bhutto vs Shashi Tharoor. Pakistanis want to know who will do West outreach better
To be, or not to be
The plain and simple fact is that Shashi Tharoor hasn’t really charted out a plan for himself—intending to cross that bridge whenever he gets to it. Following Operation Sindoor, Tharoor’s pan-Indian appeal has gone up by several notches. After the synchronous attack on him in Kerala – seemingly on Venugopal’s cue – veterans K Sudhakaran and K Muraleedharan have publicly come out against isolating Tharoor within the party. The fact remains that a Congress devoid of Tharoor will find it much more difficult to pull off the assembly election in Kerala next year.
Even so, if Tharoor were to find himself outside the Congress at some point, he will be left to take Binoy Viswam up on his offer and contest as an Independent (backed by the Left) to prolong his political career post 2029. Remember that VK Krishna Menon contested and won his last election to the Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram as a Left-backed Independent.
In an ideal world, Shashi Tharoor could be Rahul Gandhi’s Krishna Menon—even if the scion is not a patch on his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru. Instead, Gandhi has reduced himself to a Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom—who was kicked out of the Labour Party in 2024—or a Bernie Sanders in the United States, by positioning himself as an outsider despite being part of the establishment. Gandhi now only preaches to the converted, trying to appeal to the Left and woke sections.
Anand Kochukudy is a Kerala-based journalist and columnist. He tweets @AnandKochukudy. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)