Congress Fight Escalates: Khera Cites Tharoor’s 2018 Surgical Strikes Critique

Congress leader Pawan Khera has stirred controversy by sharing an excerpt from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s 2018 book, The Paradoxical Prime Minister, highlighting Tharoor’s criticism of the “shameless exploitation” of the 2016 surgical strikes as an election tool by the BJP.

I agree with that Dr @ShashiTharoor who wrote about surgical strikes in his book in 2018 – ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister’. #ReadingNow pic.twitter.com/hAhsfwH0JT

— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) May 29, 2025

Khera’s post on X, captioned, “I agree with that Dr @ShashiTharoor who wrote about surgical strikes in his book in 2018 – ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister’,” appears to subtly critique Tharoor’s recent remarks praising the Modi government’s Operation Sindoor.

In the underlined passage from Tharoor’s book, reads, “The shameless exploitation of the 2016 surgical strikes along the Line of Control with Pakistan, and a military raid in hot pursuit of rebels in Myanmar, as party election tool–something the Congress had never done despite having authorized several such strikes earlier–marked a particularly disgraceful dilution of the principle that national security issues require both discretion and non-partisanship.”

Khera’s post comes in the wake of Tharoor’s statements in Panama, where he lauded India’s counter-terrorism measures, including the 2016 Uri surgical strike and the 2019 Balakot airstrike, as marking a shift in India’s approach to terrorism.

In a post on X, Tharoor clarified and pointed out that he spoke only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars.

“After a long and successful day in Panama, I have to wind up at midnight where with departure for Bogota, Colombia in six hours, so I don’t really have time for this — but anyway: For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC in the past, I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars,” he said.

“My remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone, during which previous Indian responses were both restrained and constrained by our responsible respect for the LoC and the IB,” Shashi Tharoor clarified.

Recently, Udit Raj criticised Tharoor over his statement in Panama as part of the multi-party delegation and called him a “spokesperson for the publicity stunts of the BJP”.

Afterwards, Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Jairam Ramesh also endorsed Udit Raj’s criticism, signalling that all is not well within the party.

Tharoor, part of an all-party delegation, had stated that India crossed the Line of Control for the first time in September 2015 under the current government.

Tharoor, who is leading the all-party delegation to the United States, Guyana, Panama and other nations, was not among the official choices suggested by the Congress to the government for the outreach delegations. (ANI)