Congress Takes Away Spokesperson Tag From Shashi Tharoor, Testifies Limited Democracy In Indian Political System

Shashi Tharoor somehow manages to be in news all the time for some or the other reason. Be it his ‘cattle class’ remark, his alleged affair with a Pakistani journalist, or his Kochi IPL controversy —we’ve heard a lot about the man. But today, the man is in news because he has faced the wrath for praising Narendra Modi-initiated ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign. The Congress party today sacked him from the position of party’s spokesman citing breach of discipline as the reason.

What was Shashi Tharoor’s fault? Nothing, just that he appreciated the campaign run by the opposition party i.e. BJP. This raises serious question on the lack of idealism in Indian politics. Can a member of opposition not appreciate a noble campaign launched by the country’s Prime Minister? After all, the Prime Minister belongs to the whole nation and not just a single party of which he is a member of.

It’s not that Tharoor was constantly going against the party line or defying the party’s discipline. In fact, he had slammed the Narendra Modi government for its alleged mishandling of ceasefire violations by Pakistan. He had even dismissed speculations that he was planning to switch to the BJP, and said that those who were demanding action against him had “neither understood his remarks nor bothered to talk to him.” Moreover, he had also made it clear that he was "not pro-BJP, just pro-India," saying that he only supports some of the good programmes of Narendra Modi and not his political ideology.

However, the Congress held him guilty of breaching party discipline. Interestingly, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh had supported Tharoor. “I see nothing wrong in Shashi Tharoor accepting to be Brand Ambassador for Swachhta Abhiyan. It is Congress Party programme adopted by Modi,” Singh had said on Twitter.

This incident reflects that in India, the opposition parties take the word ‘opposition’ too literally. For them, party comes before the nation and not vice-versa. In a democracy, the opposition party has an important role to play other than opposing each and every move of the ruling party. The arguments they raise in the Parliament or otherwise, should be constructive for the nation.

In the past, we have seen some shiny examples of statesmanship. Erstwhile Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had sent Atal Bihari Vajpayee, her ardent opponent, to represent India at the Geneva Convention. Even in the 90s, Narasimha Rao (again a Congress Prime Minister) had sent Atal ji to argue India’s case against Pakistan in the UN. But sadly, we do not find such examples of statesmanship any more.