A day after Mani Shankar Aiyar slammed Shashi Tharoor for ‘moral amnesia’ in an open letter, the Thiruvananthapuram MP has issued a point-by-point public rebuttal. In his own open letter, Tharoor addresses the senior Congress leader’s critique of his political positions—and his character. “Disagreement is a hallmark of a thriving democracy, but questioning a colleague’s motives or patriotism simply because they adopt a different approach to foreign policy does little to strengthen public debate,” Tharoor wrote in an Open Letter penned on NDTV.
Aiyar’s public criticism of Tharoor was based on the latter’s recent interview in which he defended the government’s cautious diplomatic approach and warned of economic consequences if India challenged the US.
Reacting to the criticism, Tharoor, in the open letter, said that he has always “approached international affairs from a clear nationalist perspective, placing India’s interests, security, and global standing at the heart of every discussion”. “Recognising geopolitical realities and weighing consequences for India’s economy and strategic position is not “moral surrender”; it is responsible statecraft.”
From Nehru’s policy of non-alignment to today’s complex multi-alignment in an increasingly multipolar world, India’s diplomacy has remained constant: protect India’s sovereignty while speaking for global justice, he said. “My record, whether in or out of Parliament, reflects that balance. No generation holds a monopoly over patriotism, nor over the interpretation of Gandhi or Nehru. The true tribute to their legacy lies in applying their values wisely to the realities of our time”.
To acknowledge reality is not to kowtow to anyone
India was similarly reluctant to condemn the “Soviet Union’s flagrant violations” of international law in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan because “we rightly judged we had too much at stake in the relationship” with Moscow to antagonise it with a moralistic stand, he said.
Today, the stakes are much higher with “nearly $200 billion in annual trade, energy security and around nine million Indian workers and residents” impacted by the West Asia conflict, he said.
“To acknowledge reality is not to kowtow to anyone. We currently deal with a government in Washington that may not prioritise international law in the way we might wish, and which is often willing to lash out at those who obstruct it,” he said.
Referring to his recent Indian Express column, Tharoor said he had “explicitly described the illegality of the current war”, and called for an immediate end to hostilities. “It is unfortunate that you seem to have missed this clear statement of principle. My point is simple: while the war violates the tenets we stand for, jeopardising the many other strategic interests we have with the US would be unwise. Foreign policy is, above all, about the national interest. Our interests are not served by indulging in the gratification of grandstanding – unless we are confident that we can comfortably withstand the consequences,” the Kerala MP wrote.
To suggest I am “pleasing the PM” to secure travel is a baseless slur
On Aiyar’s charges regarding his foreign travel, Tharoor said that aside from his all-party delegation visits to America following Operation Sindoor, all his foreign travels are undertaken in a personal capacity.
“They are neither requested, organised, nor financed by the government. I receive far more international invitations than I can possibly accept, none of which have anything to do with my position as Committee Chairman. (In our parliamentary system, official travel is undertaken by the Speaker, not by a Committee Chair.) To suggest I am “pleasing the PM” to secure travel is a baseless slur,” he said.
The reference was over Aiyar’s suggestion that he was “currying favor” with the Prime Minister to maintain his perks and international travel.
Tharoor, who is a four-time MP from Kerala, said all his views on the neighbourhood and the region have been consistent for decades. “Whether advocating for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine in my various addresses at the International Media Seminars I ran at the UN, or observing that in Pakistan the army often has a state rather than the state having an army, my positions are rooted in a sober assessment of power dynamics and morally desirable outcomes. During the outreach after Operation Sindoor, I conveyed a clear message: India, the land of the Buddha and the Mahatma, seeks peace. But peace cannot mean passivity. We will not allow state-sponsored terrorism to take innocent lives without a firm response”.
“Disagreement on the “how” of foreign policy is natural. But to misread principled pragmatism as a lack of conviction is a failure of assessment. I remain an optimist in that a nationalism which balances moral conviction with the hard realities of statecraft is precisely what India needs to secure its place in the world,” he said.
This isn’t the first time Aiyar has targeted Tharoor on this front. In 2014, Aiyar famously called Tharoor a “chameleon” for suggesting that the opposition shouldn’t be “churlish” in acknowledging PM Modi’s inclusive outreach.