The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has decided not to take any action against MP Shashi Tharoor for his comments that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be given due credit for doing the right thing. KPCC has decided to accept Tharoor's explanation and end the controversy that was proving to be an embarassment for the Congress in Kerala after almost all prominent local leaders went up in arms against the Thiruvananthapuram MP.
The move comes a day after Tharoor shot off a letter to the KPCC after the latter demanded an explanation for his Modi comments. It all started when Tharoor and his colleague Abhishek Singhvi last week supported party leader Jairam Ramesh who said not recognising Modi's work and "demonising" him all the time was not going to help.
Tharoor had on Sunday defended the remarks made by him, Singhvi and Ramesh. "As you know, I have argued for six years now that @narendramodi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing, which would add credibility to our criticisms whenever he errs. I welcome others in Opposition coming around to a view for which I was excoriated at the time! (sic)" Tharoor had tweeted.
"What Jairam Ramesh and Singhvi have said is not wrong. If Modi has done something good, we should acknowledge it. Otherwise we will lose credibility among the people. If there is need, we should severely criticise him," he had told a Malayalam TV channel. This had invited flak from his colleagues in Kerala, following which KPCC sought Tharoor's written explanation.
In his letter addressed to KPCC President Mullapally Ramachandran, Tharoor came down heavily against local Kerala leaders for misrepresenting his remarks. "I have been a strong critic of the Modi Government and I hope a constructive one... I have used the power of my pen and my credibility as an author to write the most comprehensive, and most successful, critique of the Modi government's first term, The Paradoxical Prime Minister. This is not the work of someone who seeks to "justify" Mr Modi in any shape or form," argued Tharoor in his email.
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"Clearly enough voters thought he was delivering something for them—we need to acknowledge that, but point out its limitations: yes, he built toilets, but 60 per cent of them don't have running water; yes, he gave poor rural women gas cylinders, but 92 per cent of them can't afford refills. But if we act as if he has done nothing, however flawed, and people still voted for him, then we are saying that people are stupid, which is not a position that wins you votes," Tharoor said in his reply.
He also urged the leadership to take necessary steps to bring Congress back to power and said for that the party needs to address what has attracted the voters to Modi.
Tharoor also thanked the ordinary congress workers and volunteers in Kerala and throughout the country who have stood by him through "all this mindless controversy".
(With PTI inputs)