The importance of being Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor is a charismatic leader who has a huge fan-following among the urban middle class, notably women who find him irresistibly charming and flock to him at literary events. He is a bon vivant as the French would say.

Discretion may not be his strong point . In his eagerness to dazzle his audience and display his vocabulary he is at times prone to gaffes and wades into controversies as words tumble out before he thinks. But who is perfect!

But what makes him formidable in the treacherous world of politics is his meteoric rise – he’s a sitting member of the parliament in the Lok Sabha representing the Congress party for the fourth consecutive term from Thiruvananthapuram. It is no mean achievement.

Belying his sophisticated and smooth-tongued veneer lurks a shrewd and tenacious politician who has weathered many a storm. He is an asset to any party because he has carved out a kind of enduring rainbow coalition of a large voter base from diverse sections of society.

Yet there’s something elusive about Shashi. You cannot pinpoint the precise man he is. He is well read and has a felicity with words which captivate the audience, yet he does not come across as profound like Jawaharlal Nehru. He has allure and appeal but often seems a bit flippant unlike Nehru who was also magnetic but acknowledged globally as a scholarly statesman.

Where does Shashi stand on politics? Though he projects a very liberal and secular image he is not shy of wearing Hinduism on his sleeves probably to avoid alienating the Hindu votes where BJP is trying desperately to make an inroad in Kerala by infusing its Hindutva brand of politics too woo the Hindus. He has also written a book “ Why I Am A Hindu “which Nehru if he were to read it, would have likely frowned upon.

Shashi has been flirting with the BJP since a few years. His ambivalence towards the saffron party when it crosses swords with Congress on certain issues and occasional praises of Mr Modi, in contrast with his party leader Rahul a strident critic of Modi, betray his true motives if he will jump the drifting ship of Congress and join BJP like others before him.

When the Modi government asked each party to nominate a few members from each party as part of a delegation to represent India in a few foreign countries around the world and put forth India’s views on Pakistan’s role in sponsoring terrorism and explain the rationale behind operation Sindoor , the Congress party on a cue from the high command excluded Shashi Tharoor the rock star of the party from the list. The government lost no time and included Shashi Tharoor as a government nominee to lead the delegation. The Congress was quick to unleash its spokes persons to attack Shashi. Unfazed Shasi Tharoor accepted the nomination as an honour to defend India in the international arena.

Shashi finds himself once again caught in a maelstrom between his own party the Congress and BJP. Shashi seems to be enjoying the limelight.

The team has returned after a mixed success. America which was one of the countries Shashi visited was caught up in Trump- Elon tantrums and was in the grip of trade tariffs as well as the deportation of illegal immigrants and protests. The message from the Indian delegation may have been lost in the din. The common Americans couldn’t care less about the India-Pakistan conflict self absorbed as always in their affairs. The cognoscenti among the think tanks and senior officials in government echelons were aware in any case that Pakistan has always been sponsoring terror but the US government was more keen to spread the message that it was Trump who helped bring about the ceasefire by threatening both countries that it will stop trading with India.

But Shashi stole the show during the whirlwind tour with his oratory spiced with wit and charm. Social media was full of pictures of evening soirées with wine flowing and well heeled men and women in silk and Shashi holding court.

The dour Congress henchmen with no life beyond the Gandhi family orbit unable to stand the meteoric rise of any one who may eclipse either Rahul or Priyanka pounced on Shashi charging him that his loyalties were with BJP.

Seething with envy and spite they were unable to stomach that someone glamorous like Shashi was having a swish life, jet setting around the globe giving talks at foreign universities and having a grand time while they are having such a humdrum life.
The knives are out in Congress.

Now Shashi is faced with a Hobsons choice. His career is finished till the Gandhi family runs the Congress. The Congress has put him in the dog house. The BJP has its doors ajar for him. Both are authoritarian. But can the brilliant politician with a great promise, who is an unabashed hedonist survive in the stifling orthodoxy of saffron outfits?!

Will he stay or change to saffron robes?

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