When asked to explain his tweet, the Congress leader told reporters outside Parliament: “There is a saying in English- ‘If you don’t understand my silences, you will never understand my words’.”
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Amid the ongoing Operation Sindoor debate in Parliament, senior Congress leader Manish Tewari, who was part of the Indian delegations sent abroad to counter Pakistan’s narrative, on Tuesday reacted to reports about why the party benched him and fellow MP Shashi Tharoor during the Lok Sabha discussions.
Sharing a news headline that said ‘Spoke in favour of govt’: Why Congress benched Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari during Operation Sindoor debate, Tewari responded by quoting a patriotic song from the 1970 film Purab Aur Pachhim: “Hai preet jahaan ki reet sada, main geet wahaan ke gaata hoon, Bharat ka rehne waala hoon, Bharat ki baat sunata hoon. Jai Hind.”
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When asked to explain his tweet, the Congress leader told reporters outside Parliament: “There is a saying in English- ‘If you don’t understand my silences, you will never understand my words’.”
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Both Tewari and Shashi Tharoor were part of the global delegations the government sent to over 30 countries to amplify India’s Operation Sindoor message and counter Pakistani propaganda. The government picked them without consulting Congress.
The two MPs were also part of the G-23, a group of 23 Congress leaders who wrote to interim party president Sonia Gandhi in 2020, demanding a strong and active leadership and organisational overhaul.
Since then, some G-23 members have left the party, a few have joined the BJP, and those who remain have largely been sidelined within the Congress.
Tewari and Tharoor, once considered the blue-eyed boys of the Gandhi family, now appear distant from the leadership.
Tharoor has openly admitted to having differences with the party high command.
In recent months, his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government’s policies has not gone down well with the party. Last month, when asked about Tharoor, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge remarked, “For some, Modi comes first. For us, the country comes first.”
Some within the party believe Tharoor has already crossed the Laxman Rekha. The Kerala Congress unit has publicly stated that it will not cooperate with him, even as the central leadership mulls over his future in the party.
When asked about his absence during the Operation Sindoor debate, Tharoor’s reply was cryptic but telling: “Maunvrat” – a vow of silence. For a leader as outspoken as Tharoor, the big question now is: for how long?
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