New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has made it clear that for him the nation comes first, invoking Nehru's famous words ‘Who lives if India dies?’
The Thiruvananthapuram MP was responding to a question from an audience member, a high school student, over his uneasy relationship with his party, in Kochin on Saturday, according to NDTV.
Emphasizing his stand in the face mounting of criticism from his party leaders over his support for PM Modi administration in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, Tharoor said that the national interest must transcend party lines.
‘Politics is, unfortunately or otherwise, in any democracy, about competition. And as a result, when people like me say that we respect our parties—we have certain values and convictions that keep us in our parties—but we need to cooperate with other parties in the interests of national security,’ Tharoor pointed out.
Referencing his interaction with the student, Tharoor said though he had been avoiding political discussions, he felt compelled to answer the student’s question.
‘In Kochi today, I was asked inevitable question by a high school student. While I have been steering clear of such political discussions in public, I felt a student deserved a response,’ he wrote on X.
Addressing the question of party loyalty and national interest, Tharoor said for him the nation comes the first ‘Parties are a means of making the nation better. So to my mind, whichever party you belong to, the objective of that party is to create a better India in its own way’.
Adding further, Tharoor acknowledged that many criticized him because of supporting the armed forces and the government following the Pahalgam attack and the subsequent Operation Sindoor, ‘But I will stand my ground because I believe this is the right thing for the country. And when I speak of India, I speak for all Indians, not just those who may like my party’.
Tharoor’s relationship with the Congress leadership has strained especially after his role in an all-party delegation to the United States and subsequent praising in an article of Modi's ‘energy’ and ‘dynamism’ in diplomatic affairs.