Shashi Tharoor defends LK Advani: 'Just like Nehru can't be judged ...'

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, on Sunday, defended former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani’s political legacy, arguing that, like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Advani’s decades of public service should not be assessed based on a single incident.

The Congress MP, in a post on X, compared Advani to former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, arguing that no leader’s legacy should be reduced to a single event.

“Reducing his long years of service to one episode, however significant, is unfair. Just as Nehruji’s career cannot be defined solely by the China setback, nor Indira Gandhi’s only by the Emergency, the same fairness should be shown to Advaniji,” Tharoor wrote on the microblogging site.

Earlier, on Saturday, Tharoor had described Advani as “a true statesman” and lauded his “commitment to public service, modesty, and decency", extending his birthday greetings.

The Congress leader's post, however, soon drew criticism from senior Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde, who said Advani’s role in the Rath Yatra, which called for the construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, could not be considered public service. Hegde wrote, “Unleashing the ‘dragon seeds of hatred’ in this country is NOT public service.”