India government accused of ‘mischievous intent’ in Tharoor pick for Kashmir mission

Complaints about Shashi Tharoor’s diplomatic role shows the rifts in the Congress Party, which the ruling party can exploit, analysts say

The Indian government’s move to appoint opposition leader Shashi Tharoor to head a diplomatic mission explaining New Delhi’s position on the Kashmir conflict has sparked backlash within his own Congress Party, laying bare internal fractures and fuelling claims the ruling party is exploiting this division.

While the multiparty delegation was billed as a show of national unity following last month’s deadly militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, Congress leaders have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of bypassing the party’s recommended nominees and politicising the process by unilaterally including Tharoor.

Party spokesman Jairam Ramesh said the government had acted with “mischievous intentions”, noting that only one of the four names suggested by Congress – Anand Sharma – had been accepted. Tharoor, he stressed, was not on the list. “The Congress Party believes that national interest is paramount … Let the MPs go. We will not stop them. We will not boycott this delegation. We do not politicise it,” he said.

Tharoor’s acceptance of the role has deepened the rift, with some party leaders accusing him of undermining internal discipline. He responded by insisting that cross-border terrorism was a bipartisan concern tied to national security, not party allegiance.

A former UN undersecretary general and parliamentarian known for his eloquence and foreign policy credentials, Tharoor lost the 2022 race to be the Congress Party president to Mallikarjun Kharge – a veteran politician backed by the Nehru-Gandhi family, which continues to wield an outsize influence in party affairs.

Analysts say the controversy underscores a recurring issue for Congress – the marginalisation of independent or reform-minded leaders – even as the party struggles to mount a credible challenge to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has held power since 2014.

Congress Party leaders said they had rallied solidly behind the BJP-led government when it promised to retaliate against the April 22 militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam area in which 26 civilians, mostly tourists, died.

New Delhi had blamed Islamabad for orchestrating the attack. It launched air strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on nine allegedly militant camps. Pakistan denied the charge that it supported the militants.

On May 13, the two South Asian nations reached a ceasefire, which has been holding well though tensions have continued to simmer between them.

No room for individuals

Harsh Ramaswamy, an independent political commentator, said the row over Tharoor highlighted why Congress has struggled nationally – accusing the Gandhi-Nehru establishment of sidelining capable leaders out of insecurity.

“The Congress Party fails to identify good people and bring them forward to central positions,” he said. “Tharoor deserves to have better positions.”

Tharoor’s plight reflected that of several other capable Congress leaders who feel stifled by lack of opportunity within their own party, Ramaswamy said.

“If you don’t bring in a new generation of leaders and don’t reorganise cadres, then the loss is nobody’s except the party. Democracies have a way of always throwing up new parties and leaders,” he said.

The BJP’s success over the last few years stemmed from it being able to field a succession of new political leaders in key responsibilities, he said.

The Congress Party had shown promise of a brief resurgence following national elections last year. Teaming up with regional allies such as the Samajwadi party, it made inroads into the BJP’s Hindi-speaking heartland states in northern India, resulting in a loss of an outright majority for Modi’s party in the federal government.

However, since then it has lost ground again. The BJP has won key state polls in Delhi and Maharashtra with support from its ideological mentor, the Hindu right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

“The Congress Party leadership likes people who are dedicated to whatever it says. Tharoor has on the other hand been a free thinker. He has fallen afoul of the leadership before as well,” Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, an independent political commentator, said.

“An individualistic thinking person like Tharoor would have problems in a party like the Congress, where loyalty is so important.”

Tharoor is already serving as the chairman of a parliamentary committee on external affairs – a position the Congress Party had nominated him for. So it defied logic to not name him for the multiparty delegation to put India’s point of view internationally through diplomatic channels, Mukhopadhyay said.

“The Congress Party has botched the whole issue,” he said. “They need to put their best foot forward.”

Eye on political gains

The episode also showed BJP’s penchant for scoring political gains, Mukhopadhyay said.

“The BJP is there to fish for trouble,” he said, adding that the entire exercise was probably aimed as much at improving India’s stock internationally as consolidating the domestic political constituency.

But the gains for the BJP may be limited because the multiparty delegation’s international tour appears to have not garnered much attention among Indian voters.

The political ramifications over India’s conflict with Pakistan too might yield mixed results for Modi and the BJP as sections of hardliners were unhappy with the sudden announcement of a ceasefire with Pakistan, believing that India’s military could have pushed for stronger gains, Mukhopadhyay said.