Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is in the middle of a controversy after his comments supporting the Centre’s cross-border strikes. Tharoor, who is part of a multi-party group working with the Centre on a global campaign against terrorism, said that India crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to carry out surgical strikes “for the first time” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2016. This statement made many Congress leaders unhappy, and they criticised him strongly.

Tharoor’s comment came while he was speaking in Panama City. He said, “What has changed in recent years is that the terrorists have also realised they will have a price to pay. For the first time, India breached the Line of Control between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launch pad, following the Uri strike.”

Tharoor explains his statement and responds to critics

After facing heavy criticism, Tharoor clarified his statement on X (formerly Twitter). He said he was only talking about retaliation for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars. He wrote, “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.”

Tharoor also explained that India’s earlier responses to terror attacks were more careful and limited because of respect for the LoC and the international border. “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,” he added.

He also said, “Critics and trolls are welcome to distort my views and words as they see fit. I genuinely have better things to do.”

Congress disagrees & reminds past surgical strikes

The Congress party did not accept Tharoor’s explanation. They said surgical strikes were done during the earlier UPA government too, but those were not made public. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera shared an old interview of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In it, Singh said the UPA government also carried out surgical strikes. Khera tweeted, “Former PM Manmohan Singh: Many Surgical Strikes Conducted Under UPA CC @ShashiTharoor.” Many Congress leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh, shared this post.

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