It happens only in the Congress party that patriotism becomes almost a punishable offence, where leaders with stellar credentials and record of putting nation first are conveniently sidelined, humiliated, and antagonised just to appease the high command—the Gandhi family.
Shashi Tharoor, the silver-tongued former diplomat and Congress leader is now caught in the crosshairs of Congress’s unwarranted ire. His crime, Tharoor accepted the Modi government’s invitation to lead a multi-party delegation of MPs to articulate India’s anti-terror stance globally and apprise them about Operation Sindoor.
Gandhi family loyalists within the Congress party are fuming in anger over Tharoor being picked by the Central government to lead a multi-party delegation that would visit the United States, Panama, Guyana, Brazil and Colombia. The chagrin stems from the fact that Tharoor was not among the names recommended by the Congress party for the multi-party delegation; rather, the names of Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Nasir Hussain, and Raja Brar were submitted.
Asserting that the Congress is “not going to change” the names of four MPs for the government’s proposed delegations to foreign countries to explain India’s stance on terrorism from Pakistan, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said that this is “dishonest on the government’s part.”
Ramesh alleged that despite formally submitting four names on request, the government ignored most of them, undermining parliamentary conventions and trust between the Opposition and the ruling party.
“On May 16, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju reached out on behalf of the Central government to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and requested four names from the party to join the multi-party parliamentary group. Responding promptly, Rahul Gandhi submitted a list comprising senior leaders Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Nasir Hussain, and Raja Brar, before noon the same day,” he said, adding that the government picked only Anand Sharma among the names Congress recommended and claimed the Centre politicised the matter.
However, the Congress party should first answer why Shashi Tharoor, despite being a former diplomat and having expertise in foreign affairs, was snubbed by his own party. Picking Rahul Gandhi-loyalist Gaurav Gogoi over Tharoor? Is it justified? Although not close to the Gandhi family, Shashi Tharoor is not only a legislator with expertise in foreign affairs but also the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.
Despite the sidelining and humiliation directed his way by the Congress party, Shashi Tharoor did not cave in and stated that he will diligently fulfil his assigned responsibilities, emphasizing that while the party leadership is entitled to its opinions, his commitment remains steadfast. In contrast to Congress’s expectation of subservience, Tharoor decided to prioritise national interest and refused to be “insulted easily”.
Meanwhile, Kerala Congress has also distanced itself from the Thiruvananthapuram MP’s decision. Leader of the Opposition in Kerala, V D Satheesan, said Tharoor is a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), and leaders like him hold a lower position in the party hierarchy. “A CWC member holds a significant position. The central leadership of the party should express its opinion on the matter. Whatever their view, we will share it,” Satheesan said.
Kerala Congress leaders Satheesan and Muraleedharan framed Tharoor’s prompt acceptance of Centre’s call to lead the multi-party delegation as personal ambition and also downplayed Tharoor’s stature by suggesting that he should focus on his duties as an MP.
It must be noted that Tharoor has over the years been continuously targeted by Congress party’s Kerala unit. In April 2024, a group of Congress workers stopped party MP Shashi Tharoor during an election campaign in Balaramapuram in Thiruvananthapuram city of Kerala. They raised ‘go back’ and ‘no vote for you’ slogans against Tharoor.
In 2019, senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan mocked Shashi Tharoor and said that it is not “Oxford English” but “anti-Modi” stand that had helped the party-led front win the Thiruvananthapuram seat from which Tharoor contested. This verbal attack by Muraleedharan on his party colleague came days after Tharoor had said that he has always been a proponent of praising PM Modi for his right policy decisions. Tharoor had stated that lauding PM Modi for correct decisions will also add to the credibility of the opposition.
Prioritising the nation before the party and having independent opinions comes at a cost in Congress party
While the Congress party may not have directly accused Shashi Tharoor of tilting towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party CPI has called him “BJP sleeping cell”. Reports suggest that the Congress high command is mulling over expelling Tharoor from the party, although Congress has made no official statement in this regard. The question here arises – why the Congress party snubs its own leaders who do not operate essentially like the ‘Darbaris’ and prefer to have intellectual independence. Is it due to the fear that such strong leaders could overshadow the Gandhis or craft parallel power centres?
Tharoor’s acceptance of the Centre’s proposal for him to lead a multi-party delegation, without prior consultation (read permission) from the Congress party, is being projected by the party leadership as ‘disloyalty’ and independent of party discipline. Given Tharoor’s expertise and eloquence, it was quite obvious that he would be a part of a multi-party delegation to put forth India’s anti-terror narrative before the world.
However, people were surprised to find out that Congress did not submit Tharoor’s name despite his known credentials as a former UN diplomat and expertise in the task in question. It became evident that Tharoor’s intellectual independence does not sit well with the party high command, especially the Gandhis and only those closer to the party high command get priority. Congress’s approach, however, is not surprising since loyalty to the Gandhi family always takes precedence over merit when it comes to growth in the Congress party.
This internal discord and intolerance of merit has cost the Congress party many senior and strong leaders just because they had dared to defy Gandhi family and expressed independent opinions on various issues. Shashi Tharoor has in the recent years been constantly targeted, sidelined and insulted by his own party.
When Shashi Tharoor was cornered for contesting Congress president election against the Gandhi family loyalist
Back in October 2022, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was asked to cancel his Uttar Pradesh visit to avoid ‘clashes’ with the supporters of Gandhi family loyalist Mallikarjun Kharge. It was widely reported how Tharoor faced opposition within the party for contesting Congress president ‘elections’ against the choice of the ‘establishment’—Kharge. Interestingly, Tharoor wanted to end the Congress party’s “high command” culture which obviously meant the end of Gandhi family supremacy. However, he could not defeat the Gandhi family loyalist.
In November 2022, Tharoor was denied a place on the star campaigners list for the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Around the same time, the Kerala Congress had distanced itself from Tharoor and backed off from hosting an anti-RSS seminar where the Congress MP was invited as a guest in Kozhikode. Back then, it was reported that Congress leadership had given unofficial orders to the party’s local units not to host any of Shashi Tharoor’s programs.
In February this year, Shashi Tharoor expressed dissatisfaction over his role in the party. He met Rahul Gandhi to express discontent over being sidelined in the party and not being given opportunities to participate in major debates inside the Parliament. However, Tharoor was left disgruntled after Gandhi failed to address his concerns. Tharoor’s dissatisfaction also arose from his removal from the charge of the All India Professional Congress (AIPC), a body which he had established.
The Congress party has also been upset with Tharoor since he praised Prime Minister Modi’s US visit, deviating from the party’s official stance. “I think that’s a very good outcome because otherwise, the fear was that there might be some hasty decisions made in Washington, which would have affected our exports. This way, there is time to discuss and negotiate,” Tharoor said regarding PM Modi’s meeting with Trump. Clarifying his position, Tharoor later said he could not always speak in terms of party interest.
Captain Amarinder Singh’s acrimonious exit from Congress
Back in 2021, the then Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh resigned from the Congress party after saying that he could not continue with the humiliation he was subjected to. Singh decided to quit Congress after the party called a meeting of the Congress legislative party in Punjab without informing him. Previously, the party had snubbed him by choosing Navjot Singh Sidhu as president of the Punjab Congress in July 2021, despite strong objections from Amarinder Singh.
Congress’s family-centric politics made Himanta Biswa Sarma leave the party
In September 2015, the Congress party lost a stellar leader from Assam when Himanta Biswa Sarma resigned from the Congress party saying that the “despotic family-centric” politics and “lack of democracy” in the party forced him to quit.
“From 2012, I observed that the situation was deteriorating and the party is losing respect due to the callous attitude of the state leadership. The third time victory had gone into the head, and arrogance started replacing compassion and dedication to work for the people. A sense of complacency and status quoism had engulfed the party leadership. A despotic family-centric politics constantly emboldened by a bunch of sycophants had never allowed a rational and neutral voice to reach to the Congress leadership in the state,” Sarma said while resigning from Congress.
In 2023, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is now a BJP leader and popular CM of Assam, after delivering back-to-back election victories to the party, recalled a humiliating incident when Congress prince Rahul Gandhi made his party workers eat biscuits from the same plate as his pet dog. Responding to an X post highlighting a similar disturbing incident of Rahul Gandhi offering biscuits rejected by his dog to party workers, Himanta said that he is a proud Assamese and Indian adding that he was the only Congress leader who refused to eat the dog’s biscuit and resigned from Congress. The incident took place when Sarma met Rahul Gandhi in the run-up to the 2016 elections to discuss Assam’s problems.
Back in 2022, Sarma had in an interview said that he had “wasted 22 years of my life in the Congress”. Speaking about the difference between Congress and BJP, Sarma said, In the Congress, we used to worship a family. In BJP, we worship the country.”
Congress leaders get sidelined or dubbed as ‘Sanghi’ for having opinions differing from those of party high command
Interestingly, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, though he remains in the Congress party, has on many occasions taken decisions which caused dismay to the party leadership. Be it calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “Bade Bhai” elder brother and praising “Gujarat Model” when Rahul Gandhi was repeatedly attacking PM Modi accusing him of complicity in businessman Gautam Adani’s alleged crony capitalism, signing MoU with Adani Group for development projects, not joining the divisive South Tax Movement started by Congress and allies to backing Centre and armed forces during Operation Sindoor, Reddy has many a times acted independently although not without upsetting party leadership and supporters who called him a “Sanghi agent”.
Similarly, Congress leader Sachin Pilot has also been sidelined by the Congress party due to his differences with Gandhi family loyalist and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Despite being called nikamma (useless), gaddar (traitor) and whatnot, Pilot remains in Congress, though ignored.
From Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora to Kapil Sibal, many Congress leaders who had potential to become big leaders in the party were sidelined, and had to eventually quit Congress since the party was evidently intolerant to those expressing opinions that do not always align with party high command’s line.
Ghulam Nabi Azad left Congress after spending over 50 years in the party as high command became tone-deaf to feedback and criticism
In August 2022, veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from the Congress party after over 50 years of association. In his parting note, Ghulam Nabi Azad did not mince any words in holding the Congress high command accountable for the party’s downfall. He squarely blamed Congress scion Rahul Gandhi for single-handedly destroying the consultative mechanism within the party.
Azad’s discontentment with Congress became evident when he joined the G-23 rebel group in Jammu last year. He had also showered praise upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and hinted at the lack of ‘reality check’ within the Congress. After being unceremoniously ousted from the disciplinary committee and the party’s list of star campaigners before the 2022 Punjab elections, resignation was on the cards. The last nail in the coffin was perhaps his ‘downgrade’ appointment to 2 committees of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress.
For the Congress party, the Gandhi family and not nation comes first. Anyone defying this unannounced rule is either subjected to snubbing, humiliation and dubbed as ‘BJP agent’/Sanghi or outrightly expelled from the party. Apparently, the Gandhi family does not want to risk losing control by letting its senior party leaders exercise their intellectual freedom, especially as Congress continues to struggle electorally. The party leadership wants to rely on Rahul Gandhi’s ‘JanNayak’ image as well as divisive and populist promises, while seeing seasoned leaders like Shashi Tharoor as ‘too independent liabilities’ simply because they do not unquestionably align with the vision of the Gandhi family.
