Politics | Tharoor’s Modi remarks create a flutter. Will he have the last laugh?

Anand Kochukudy

The Congress unit in Kerala has always had an abundance of popular leaders and multiple factions. It’s a rare sight to see all the factions unite and when they do, opponents do not stand a chance — as the Marxists would testify.

But Kerala Congress leaders’ latest target is neither from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) nor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but one of their own — Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, who fought one of the toughest elections in the country to retain his seat in 2019.

All Tharoor had to do to suddenly earn the ire of fellow Kerala Congress leaders was to say how criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to be “tempered with merited praise to enhance credibility”.

Tharoor was not saying anything new. In fact, he has been holding the same opinion since 2014. But in the latest episode, he was seconding the opinion of Congressman Jairam Ramesh, who set off the debate by opining at a book launch that Modi’s governance model was "not a complete negative story" and how not recognising his work and demonising him all the time could backfire.

Another Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, too, had come out in support of Ramesh’s comment by tweeting how demonising Modi was wrong and a one-way opposition actually helps the Prime Minister.

“Acts are always good, bad and indifferent — they must be judged issue-wise and not person-wise,” Singhvi had tweeted.

While the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has not weighed in on the matter, important leaders ranging from Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Mullappally Ramachandran, United Democratic Front’s (UDF) Benny Behanan and Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala have come out with scathing criticism.

Former PCC Chief K Muralidharan went one step further, suggesting Tharoor quit the Congress and join the BJP if he wanted to praise the PM. Not to be left behind, Thrissur MP T N Prathapan shot off a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi asking for her urgent intervention in the matter.

Although some of these trenchant critics of Tharoor are his colleagues in Parliament, they cannot see beyond their narrow political considerations and constituencies in Kerala. Like their Marxist counterparts in the state, these Congress leaders are not able to comprehend the larger picture or see things from a national perspective.

While the Marxists can afford to take such a strident stand as they have been relegated to Kerala, a weakened Congress still occupies the opposition space in the country. And Tharoor reckons that the Congress has to change tack to get back to reckoning as a national alternative.

For the longest time, Modi has sharply divided the opinions of people. While many people cannot still look beyond Modi’s controversial past as Gujarat Chief Minister, he has gone on to win the people’s mandate for a second term as PM.

Notwithstanding the fact that Congress leaders have generally demonised the PM every step of the way, the democrat in Tharoor has always tempered his criticism with liberal doses of praise and back-handed compliments, to emerge as a more credible voice among opposition leaders.

Beyond Tharoor, many sane voices within the Congress have suggested that all-out criticism of Modi would only backfire, considering the massive popularity enjoyed by the PM today. The Congress election pitch in 2019 was largely negative, and the biggest weapon in their armour — the corruption allegations in the Rafale fighter aircraft deal — did not really stick.

In the aftermath of the poll debacle, an internal assessment of the Congress had pointed out how Rahul Gandhi’s “Chowkidar Chor Hai” slogan and the campaign built around that came a cropper.

One reason cited for Rahul’s campaign not yielding the desired results is his perceived credibility deficit among India’s middle classes and sections of urban voters. Apart from the BJP IT Cell-conceived “Pappu” image of Gandhi, and his fumbling speeches in Hindi, this credibility deficit is also attributed to his negative campaigns.

Going forward, Rahul will have to attract a considerable section of BJP voters — the BJP polled over 37 percent votes across the nation and this goes up to 45 percent adding the NDA tally — if he has to turn around the fortunes of his party.

And that is exactly what Tharoor has suggested — to win over fence-sitters through calibrated criticism and sowing seeds of doubt among BJP voters in the process. Under the current circumstances, even genuine and warranted criticism of the PM and his policies do not create any impact beyond the Congress’ core constituency on the ground and echo chambers online.

However, with Tharoor coming in the line of fire of Congress leaders in Kerala and Rahul Gandhi beholden to the “Mallu Mafia” in the AICC comprising A K Antony and K C Venugopal, the Thiruvananthapuram MP would be lucky to escape without getting censured and humiliated once again for his earnestness and national perspective.

Anand Kochukudy is a political commentator and editor, The Kochi Post. Views are personal.