Shashi Tharoor had praised PM Modi’s remarks made just days after the NDA’s massive win in the Bihar elections, in which the Congress was dealt a major blow. The BJP has come down heavily on the Congress for its criticism of Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor after he heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech. The BJP said that there is no democracy within the Congress, and that the party issues a “fatwa” against leaders who keep national interest above familial interests.
Shashi Tharoor had praised PM Modi’s remarks made at an event just days after the NDA’s massive win in the Bihar elections, in which the Congress was dealt a major blow. “If somebody praises the Prime Minister’s speech, which is about larger issues, then a ‘fatwa’ is issued against that person by the Congress, which talks about democracy in the entire country, but there is no democracy within their party…,” said BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla after the Congress criticised Tharoor’s remarks for the Prime Minister.
The BJP also said that the INC should be expanded as ‘Indira Nazi Congress’ because the party “demonstrates Indira’s emergency mindset and Nazi dictatorial behaviour”. In a detailed X post, Shashi Tharoor had lauded PM Modi’s speech delivered during the sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture, organised by the Indian Express. Tharoor said he was “glad” to have been in the audience despite battling a bad cold and cough. “PM Modi said he’d been accused of being in “election mode” all the time, but he was really in “emotional mode” to redress the problems of the people,” Tharoor said in his post.
He specifically highlighted PM Modi’s reference to Thomas Macaulay and his call to Indians to rid the country of the mindset of slavery. “A significant part of the speech was dedicated to overturning Macaulay’s 200-year legacy of “slave mentality.” PM Modi appealed for a 10-year national mission to restore pride in India’s heritage, languages, and knowledge systems,” a part of the Congress MP’s X post read.
After Shashi Tharoor’s words of praise for PM Modi, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said that she did not find anything “praiseworthy” in what the Prime Minister had said. She called the speech “petty” and said she doesn’t understand what the Congress MP liked about it. “I didn’t find anything in the speech (of PM Modi) worth appreciating. I think PM must answer a lot of things,” said Supriya Shrinate.
