Shashi Tharoor slams Parliament disruptions in latest break from party line: 'Not here to shout, create ruckus'

Shashi Tharoor, Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram. (File: PTI)

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday took strong exception to continuing disruptions by Opposition benches in Parliament and suggested that MPs have been elected to represent their voice, not cause ruckus in the biggest democratic platform of the country.

"I have said this from the very beginning. My party leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, know this very well. I may be the lone voice in the party, but I have no doubts that people have elected me to represent them in parliament, not just to shout and create a ruckus. They have sent me to use my intelligence to speak for the nation and speak for them," he told NDTV.

The remarks mark yet another instance of Tharoor breaking away from his party's line on major issues. He has courted controversy in the past over actions that include praise for the Prime Minister and in matters of national security.

In a column he wrote for The Indian Express earlier this week, Tharoor said that the Opposition had abandoned its legislative responsibilities by preferring disruptions rather than using the Parliament to challenge the government through debate.

"In doing so, it forfeits the very tools Parliament offers: Question Hour to hold ministers accountable, Zero Hour and Rule 377 to raise urgent matters, and the opportunity to register its views on government bills. The government passes its legislation amid the din; it is the Opposition that loses out," he wrote.

His absence from two consecutive meetings of the Congress have also not gone unnoticed and are believed to have only increased the acrimony between him and his party leadership.

His latest remarks come amid persistent disruptions by the Opposition, including the Congress, during the first week of the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament that began on Monday. The week so far has been almost a washout as the Opposition was bent on a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and the crisis being faced by passengers of Indigo airlines across the country.

A former diplomat and a four-time Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor was also part of the Centre's multi-party global delegation to present India's stand on Operation Sindoor, much against his party's wishes. He had earlier unsuccessfully contested the election for the post of party president but lost to Mallikarjun Kharge.