India deserves better — Shashi Tharoor slams political chaos

Shashi Tharoor, 68, four-time Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram, is the most unusual leader in the Congress party today. Young India treats the writer, former diplomat and logophile (someone who loves words, with a deep appreciation for language) as an icon.

Tharoor is the Congress President whom the party didn’t elect but perhaps should have, to build a bridge with the new, young India, which is impatient with the GOP. Tharoor, a professional politician almost in the US style, works extremely hard for his constituency and maintains a punishing work schedule.

Over the years in Indian politics, Tharoor has toned down the wattage and seems to be an occasional misfit in his party. Read between the lines of my interview with him.

We just saw the winter session completely wasted. As an MP, what do you think, as this repeatedly happens? Where does the onus lie?

I am very disappointed by the way the winter session went. Most of our MPs are disappointed. I think there are a lot of major issues to be discussed in our country, including unemployment, price rises, and the violence in Manipur and Sambhal. Sadly, most of this time has been wasted in disruption.

For many of us, the only constructive work was done in the Parliamentary committees. But the main Parliament did not fulfil its duty to the nation. I think we have let the people of India down. Very unfortunate.

To my mind, Parliament is a forum for debate, discussion, and disagreements, certainly, but not for disruption. There was an agreement reached between the government and the Opposition in the first week that the Opposition could protest outside, but inside, work would continue. That arrangement went on for 2-3 days. But thereafter, we ended up once again with a complete breakdown. I think that was very unfortunate.

I really hope that the government reaches out to the Opposition leadership and finds a solution, so that in a constructive way, we can all get on with the work of the House — addressing the issues of the people.

The Budget session is coming next, and we should not see a repetition of this in February-March.

The comment by Amit Shah on Ambedkar — tell us why it was so offensive, because you are also a true practising Hindu.

There is a widespread perception that the comment by Mr Amit Shah was deeply disparaging of an iconic figure. He repeated the name “Ambedkar“ seven times and sarcastically added that if God had been invoked that often, people would ensure themselves a permanent place in heaven.

The tone was seemingly contemptuous, and by preceding it with the statement that citing Ambedkar had become fashionable, it also sounded demeaning.

I am prepared to believe it had not been intended that way — no Indian politician believes he can afford to be speaking ill of Dr Ambedkar on any public platform, let alone in Parliament — but at the very least, it was an unfortunate choice of words that united the Opposition behind a call for him to resign.

Why is the BJP government so hostile to the Opposition in general and the Gandhi family in particular?

You will have to ask them that! But the level of acrimony between the ruling party and the principal opposition party is definitely not good for Indian democracy.

The success of democracy rests on the mutual acceptance that both sides have the nation’s best interests at heart, but disagree on the methods of how to achieve that. If you understand that, then the other side is your adversary, not your enemy.

It is a far cry from that to the current situation, with the government denouncing the Opposition as antinational and the Opposition seeing the ruling party as little short of evil.

There is a marked absence of the kind of mutual respect and even conviviality that used to characterise relations between the parties in the past.

As a gloomy year draws to a close, where do you think India stands in a very uncertain world with Trump about to take over, the war in Ukraine, the coup in Bangladesh, and a ring of hostile neighbours around India?

It’s a challenging time for everyone, but India is arguably better positioned than most. It got along well with the earlier Trump administration and believes it can work with Trump 2.0. It has recently eased some of the tensions on the northern border with China.

Pakistan seems too distracted by its internal troubles to be a major threat. And on most of the major divides in global geopolitics — Russia versus Ukraine, Israel versus Palestine, West versus Russia, and so on — India is almost uniquely in a position to claim friendly relations with both sides.

The unpredictable challenges ahead will still call for some very skilled diplomacy, but I believe we are in a good space.

If you were the Congress President, would you have made Adani and his cronyism with Modi the main salvo of Congress opposition?

Crony capitalism is indeed one of the issues the Opposition can legitimately charge the government with, but there is such a wide range of issues for which the ruling party needs to be accountable — including its demonisation of minorities, its policies of “bulldozer justice”, its suppression of legitimate dissent, its eroding of the independent democratic institutions of our country, the rampant unemployment and economic despair that has led to the dramatic rise in illegal emigration to the West in quest of a better life. With so many issues to pick from, there is no shortage of government failings the Opposition can legitimately take on.

Why did the Congress lose Haryana, which you were a near certainty to win, and then Maharashtra? How do you fix a problem like the Congress?

There were three setbacks in state elections — in chronological order, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra — which the party clearly needs to study in depth and learn lessons from. We have been told that process is going on.

Congress has a number of strengths that should not be underestimated — a storied history, a broadly acceptable and inclusive ideology, a presence in almost every corner of the country, and millions of devoted loyalists. It needs to improve its grass roots organisation and show the “last mile connectivity“ that gets the voter to the polling booth.

It also needs to encourage local leadership, which can be a challenge in an organisation with an entrenched top-down culture. Clearly, the BJP-led NDA alliance seems secured in power for the rest of this term, but these are the years the Congress could be spending consolidating itself as the only alternative in town and putting forward a credible set of policies to the people. We have made a promising beginning, but there is still some way to go.

And, finally, what new thing can we expect from Shashi in the new year?

As usual, I never give up! You’ll be hearing from me.