The Congress Contrarian

Tharoor's independent stance and BJP-like nationalist tilt are testing Congress loyalty, stoking intra-party friction and future uncertainty, writes Shine Jacob

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Once hailed in the West as "India's Rasputin" and considered the de facto number two to Jawaharlal Nehru, former defence minister V K Krishna Menon embodied the paradox of being a global citizen who struggled to belong within his own party. Menon's eventual exile from the Congress mainstream remains a study in political alienation—one that, increasingly, observers in Kerala now see echoed in the trajectory of Shashi Tharoor, a member of the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram.

Tharoor, like Menon, is internationally popular, and seen as independent-minded. And like Menon, he is now grappling with a widening gulf between himself and the Congress that once celebrated him. The latest friction arose over his nomination to the Union government's foreign outreach initiative after Operation Sindoor—a move that has drawn more ire from his own party than from political rivals.

The political and ideological differences between the Congress and Tharoor is no longer a matter of whispers. Though divergence between his post-ideological, neo-liberal views and the Congress' traditional line on the matter of development has surfaced repeatedly, this time, it is his apparent alignment with a nationalist narrative—similar to that of the BJP—that has stirred the pot.

"Tharoor's case can be compared to that of Menon," says Sunnykutty Abraham, a veteran political commentator. "A person with a global citizen image, failing to adjust to the party lines. The only difference is, at that time, the Congress was at its strongest point with Nehru and others around." Abraham argues that Tharoor is unwittingly echoing BJP rhetoric in ways the Congress finds hard to accept.