Tag: Tharoor

Gross exaggeration, distortion of Kerala’s reality: Tharoor slams makers of The Kerala Story

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New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday hit out at the makers of the movie “The Kerala Story”, accusing them of indulging in “gross exaggeration” and “distortion” of the state’s reality.
Tharoor’s assertion came in response to those accusing him of double standards over his criticism of the film, referring to his 2021 tweet in which he had said that he had been approached by three Kerala mothers whose daughters are stuck in Afghanistan having been taken there by their misguided husbands.
“The Kerala Story”, starring Adah Sharma, is set to be released in cinemas on May 5. Written and directed by Sudipto Sen, the film is portrayed as “unearthing” the events behind “approximately 32,000 women” allegedly going missing from Kerala.

According to the CPI(M) and the Congress in Kerala, the film falsely claims that the women converted, got radicalised and were deployed in terror missions in India and the world.
In a lengthy Twitter post tagging his 2021 tweet on the three Kerala mothers who had approached him, Tharoor said, “Many are spreading this 2021 tweet of mine as if it undermines my present objections to the trailer and publicity for ‘The Kerala Story’.”
“Yes, I was approached then by three Kerala mothers and was aware of a fourth, and I was open about my concerns about their daughters’ radicalisation. But four cases are a far cry from the 32,000 that the film-makers are alleging,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.
If there really were so many ISIS female members from Kerala, that would mean double the number when you count their husbands, whereas even Western intelligence sources say the number of ALL Indians in ISIS does not approach three figures, Tharoor said.
“This gross exaggeration and distortion of the Kerala reality is what I am objecting to,” he added.

Film’s producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah has said the film is a true story and every scene in the film is true, but it deals with three girls.
“However, we are not changing our stand. If we look at the issue, the number of 32,000 is what we have stated and we are staying by it. But the film is not, so they’re two different things,” he told PTI.
“Since the matter has become sub judice, I would not like to elaborate on that. If we are asked this question… ‘How did we get to this number and everything?’ We’ll answer those questions there (in court),” he said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Sunday slammed the makers of the film, saying they were taking up the Sangh Parivar propaganda of projecting the state as a centre of religious extremism by raising the issue of ‘love jihad’ — a concept rejected by courts, probe agencies and the home ministry.
“The Kerala Story” is backed by Sunshine Pictures Private Limited, founded by Shah, who serves as the producer, creative director and co-writer of the film.
The film’s writer-director Sudipto Sen’s earlier movies are “Aasma”, “Lucknow Times” and “The Last Monk”.
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#Gross #exaggeration #distortion #Keralas #reality #Tharoor #slams #makers #Kerala #Story
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 2, 2023
Karnataka polls: Jagadish Shettar, Sonia, Tharoor in Cong’s star campaigners’ list

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New Delhi: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who joined the Congress this week after quitting the BJP, figures in the Congress’ list of star campaigners for the Karnataka Assembly polls that also includes party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor.
The Congress on Wednesday released a list of 40 leaders who would be the party’s star campaigners for the May 10 assembly elections.
Interestingly, Shettar, who crossed over to the Congress a couple of days ago and has been given the party ticket from the Hubli-Dharwad-Central Assembly segment that he currently represents, has been included in the list.

A staunch RSS man, Shettar was part of the Jan Sangh and BJP for several decades before severing his ties with the party upon his candidature being overlooked for the May 10 election and joined Congress on Monday.
The Congress’ list of star campaigners has many stalwarts from Karnataka such as former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar, Jairam Ramesh, M Veerappa Moily, M B Patil, G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa and BK Hariprasad.
Others include Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukku, AICC in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala, senior party leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram, Prithviraj Chavan and Ashok Chavan.
Sachin Pilot, who was on the list of star campaigners for the 2018 Karnataka polls, does not figure on the list this time.
Ramalinga Reddy, Satish Jarkiholi, D K Suresh, G C Chandrashekhar, Syed Naseer Hussain, Zameer Ahmed Khan, H M Revanna, Umashree, Revanth Reddy, Ramesh Chennithala, Srinivas B V, Raj Babbar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Divya Spandana, Imran Pratapgarhi, Kanhaiya Kumar, Rupa Shashidhar and Sadhukokila are also on the list.

The assembly polls will be held on May 10 and the results will be announced on May 13. The Congress is seeking to oust the BJP from power in the southern state.
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#Karnataka #polls #Jagadish #Shettar #Sonia #Tharoor #Congs #star #campaigners #list
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 19, 2023
Serious attempt to undermine every institution: Shashi Tharoor

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Mumbai: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said right across the spectrum there is a “serious undermining” of every autonomous institution and it seems the government has only the “loyalty” criterion before appointing individuals to head them.
In an interaction at Press Club here on ‘The need for an independent media as a vital link for democracy’, Tharoor said intimidation of the press was a legitimate issue, and if he has a voice in the party manifesto, he would certainly suggest that this should be made an issue and the party would stand for guaranteeing the freedom of press and non-interference.
The MP from Kerala also said before the 2019 elections, he had warned that a victory for the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) would result in an attempt to create a “Hindu Pakistan”.

He said in the first few months after the BJP government stormed to power in 2019, he “wasn’t far off” from his prediction as the government brought legislation on triple talaq and the abolition of special provisions of Article 370.
In many ways it was COVID-19 that saved the country as the entire legislative momentum was stalled by the urgent need to tackle the pandemic, he added.
“Right across the spectrum, there seems to be a very serious undermining of the strength of every institution. The government seems to have only the loyalty test before it when it’s appointing people to head any autonomous institution,” Tharoor said.
Referring to the Election Commission, he said there was a time when governments seem to respect the autonomy of autonomous institutions by appointing individuals known for their independence and integrity and cited examples of former Chief Election Commissioners TN Seshan and J M Lyndoh.
Calling the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabha member worrying after his conviction last month by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case, Tharoor said many of the judiciary’s decisions are “compromised”, though not at every level.

He also said the legislature has been reduced to either a “notice board” for the government or a “rubber stamp”.
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#attempt #undermine #institution #Shashi #Tharoor
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 15, 2023
Tharoor slams govt over removal of Maulana Azad references from NCERT textbook

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New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday slammed the government over the removal of references to India’s first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in the new NCERT class 11 political science textbook, calling it a “disgrace”.
References to freedom fighter and India’s first education minister Azad have been removed from the new class 11 political science textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
Tagging a media report on it, Tharoor, a former minister of state for human resource development, tweeted, “What a disgrace. I have no objection to adding neglected figures to the historical narrative, but deleting people, especially for the wrong reasons, is unworthy of our diverse democracy and its storied history.”

As part of its “syllabus rationalisation” exercise last year, the NCERT, citing “overlapping” and “irrelevant” as reasons, dropped certain portions from the course including lessons on Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement, among others from its textbooks.
The rationalisation note had no mention of any changes in class 11 political science textbook.
The NCERT has, however, claimed that no curriculum trimming has taken place this year and the syllabus was rationalised in June last year.
“Certain changes not finding mention of in the rationalised content book could be an ‘oversight’,” NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani reiterated.
In the class 11 political science textbook’s first chapter, titled ‘Constitution – Why and How’, a line has been revised to omit Azad’s name from the constituent assembly committee meetings.

The revised line now reads, “Usually, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel or BR Ambedkar chaired these Committees.”
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#Tharoor #slams #govt #removal #Maulana #Azad #references #NCERT #textbook
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 14, 2023
Karnataka tired of 40% commission, wants 100% commitment: Tharoor

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Bengaluru: Former union minister Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said people in Karnataka were tired of “40 per cent commission” and wanted “100 per cent commitment” that the Congress party would give if it were voted to power in the upcoming Assembly election.
He also said that the Congress was prepared to tackle the “serious deficiencies” in state-level and urban-level governance in Bengaluru and the entire state of Karnataka.
“I think the people in this state are tired of the 40 per cent commission. What they want is 100 per cent commitment and that’s what we will give 100 per cent commitment to the well-being of the people of Karnataka,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said at a press conference here.

In poll-bound Karnataka where the Assembly election is just a month away, the Congress has been accusing the BJP-led state government of collecting 40 per cent commission from contractors, unaided private schools and even some religious institutions on the grants that they receive from the government.
Tharoor said the state was being badly governed and that the infrastructure in Bengaluru was becoming an embarrassment.
“Our message is very simple. We have seen, unfortunately, over four years now, bad governance. When there is bad governance and there is nothing to see, people inevitably wonder what they need a government for,” Tharoor said.
There were essential needs of the people that had not been met and the Congress party had already come out with a number of “very specific policies” to fulfill those needs, the Congress leader said.
He added that the Congress was coming up with policies such as ensuring that unemployed graduates and unemployed diploma-holders could get some support from the State so that they can live with self-respect while they search for jobs. He also said the Congress was planning to honour the Gruha Lakshmi’ — the homemakers — so that they could get some compensation for their unpaid labour.

Tharoor said the Congress “is pledging to improve the infrastructure of Bengaluru which used to be the pride of Karnataka and India but which is now becoming an embarrassment.”
“So whether it is state-level governance or urban level governance, we feel that there are serious deficiencies that the Congress government is ready and prepared to tackle,” the Congress MP said.
To a question on some Congress leaders joining the BJP, he pointed out that several MLAs and MLCs too had joined the Congress from other parties in the past few months.
“Well if you look at the Karnataka situation, five MLAs, two MLCs, 11 former MLAs, four former MLCs and one former MP have all joined the Congress, literally in the last few months. It does suggest that the people from other parties are seeing the Congress as an inevitable victorious party in Karnataka,” Tharoor said.
He, however, said he was disappointed with the Congress members who had joined the BJP, and said they could have joined a party that shared the values and principles of the Congress instead.
He wondered how they could go to a party that has the opposite set of values and principles.
“That I find difficult to understand. That’s where my disappointment (lies) with some of the people who have gone to the dark side, as one might say. I think they will sadly have to repent their choices as they see how they are treated in their new home,” Tharoor said.
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#Karnataka #tired #commission #commitment #Tharoor
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 9, 2023
Will caste factor keep Shashi Tharoor out of the CWC?

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Thiruvananthapuram: With the now-ended 85th plenary session of the Congress in Raipur authorising party President Malikarjuna Kharge to nominate 35 members to the Congress Working Committee, the chances of former Union Minister making it to the party’s highest decision-making body seem to have dimmed.
In the outgoing CWC, there were three members from Kerala – K.C. Venugopal, A.K.Antony, and Oommen Chandy. Out of them, the last two might not return due to their age and bad health, while Venugopal has increased his stock in the party by being the closest aide of Rahul Gandhi.
Among those in the running include Tharoor, Ramesh Chennithala, Mullapally Ramachandran, Kodikunnil Suresh, among others.
Questions over Tharoor came when Congress General Secretary in charge of Kerala Tariq Anwar on Tuesday opined that while there is no doubt that Tharoor has all qualities to be a member of the CWC, caste issues are also there when it comes to its constitution.
While Venugopal, Chennithala and Tharoor all hail from the powerful Hindu Nair community, seven time Lok Sabha member Suresh hails from the Scheduled Caste community and he has already thrown in his hat in the ring.
However, a political observer opined that it is evident that Tharoor does not have the support of all in the state unit, ever since he decided to contest for the Congress Presidentship against Kharge and those close to the Gandhi family were upset with him.
“If what Anwar said is true, how come there were two Christians from Kerala in the outgoing CWC. So such excuses like that one has to look out for caste composition is just to keep someone out and with this statement, if Tharoor still find a place in the CWC, it should be a big surprise,” the observer said.
Tharoor has already made it clear that he would not be keen to get into the CWC as a special invitee, and it remains to be seen if he becomes a CWC member or not.

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#caste #factor #Shashi #Tharoor #CWC
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 28, 2023
Tharoor slams Jaishankar for China ‘bigger economy’ remark

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Raipur: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday criticised External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar for the latter’s recent remark during an interview that “China is a bigger economy” while defending India’s policy on China amid tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)
“It is shocking to hear from the External Affairs Minister that China is too rich to stand up to,” Tharoor said while speaking on the international resolution passed by the Congress during the party’s 85th plenary session being held here.
Tharoor said the future of India is bright as long as the Congress fights the good fight and we have to send a message from here.A
The MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that the party should be absolutely clear about its ideology if it wants to take on the BJP with full might.
Stressing on the idea of inclusive India, Tharoor said that Congress could have been more vocal on the release of Bilkis Bano rape case convicts and cow vigilantes.
Tharoor also targeted the Central government for ‘rampant crony capitalism’ and ‘accumulating wealth in the hands of a few friends of the Prime Minister’.
Meanwhile, the Congress in its political resolution said that it will bring a law to punish and prevent hate crimes to combat hate politics and violence.
The resolution said, “In the last eight-and-a-half years under the BJP government, the politics of hate has assumed alarming proportions and religious polarisation has reached its peak. Hate crimes and atrocities have increased manifold. Vigilante right wing groups incite violence on various trivial issues.

“These groups operate with impunity and have started acting like police, spreading anarchy and fear. This fear in the minds of minorities is the aim of the BJP/RSS regime.”
The resolution said that during the course of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, it was clear that majority of Indians yearn for love, peace and harmony.
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#Tharoor #slams #Jaishankar #China #bigger #economy #remark
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 25, 2023
Tharoor condoles Musharraf’s demise

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New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday condoled the demise of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.
Tharoor said that Musharraf, who was once an implacable foe of India, had become a real force for peace from 2002 to 2007.
“Pervez Musharraf, Former Pakistani President, Dies of Rare Disease”: once an implacable foe of India, he became a real force for peace 2002-2007. I met him annually in those days at the @un &found him smart, engaging & clear in his strategic thinking. RIP https://t.co/1Pvqp8cvjE
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) February 5, 2023
“I met him annually in those days at the @un &found him smart, engaging & clear in his strategic thinking. RIP,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.
Taking to Twitter, Tharoor posted: “Pervez Musharraf, Former Pakistani President, Dies of Rare Disease: once an implacable foe of India, he became a real force for peace 2002-2007. I met him annually in those days at the @un &found him smart, engaging & clear in his strategic thinking. RIP”
Musharraf, 79 died of a rare disease in a hospital in Dubai on Sunday.
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#Tharoor #condoles #Musharrafs #demise

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 5, 2023
Anil Antony’s views on BBC documentary ‘immature,’ says Tharoor

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Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday rejected the views of Anil Antony, son of party colleague and former defence minister A K Antony, on a controversial BBC documentary on Gujarat riots and termed as “immature” his argument that it was an infringement into India’s sovereignty.
Anil had tweeted on Tuesday that placing the views of the British broadcaster over Indian institutions would undermine the sovereignty of the nation. He has since resigned from all posts he was holding in the Congress party, citing “intolerant calls” and “abuses” over the matter.
Tharoor, Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said people of the country have the freedom to watch or not watch the BBC documentary on the 2002 riots and asked who can say the British broadcaster has no right to do a story on the topic.
The Constitution of the country guarantees all rights for us to watch a documentary, he added.
When asked about Anil’s argument that placing the views of the BBC over Indian institutions would set a “dangerous precedence” and “undermine” our sovereignty, Tharoor said he cannot agree with it.
“I feel that this is an immature stand,” he said.
“Because, the sovereignty of our country cannot be affected so easily… will it be affected if a foreign documentary is screened?….whether our national security and sovereignty are so fragile to be affected by a documentary?” he said.
The leader, however, said Anil, who had handled the digital communications of the grand old party for sometime, was a “good person” and he had not discussed the BBC documentary issue with him.

Anil, who is said to be close to Tharoor, specially thanked him for his support in the resignation letter which he sent to the party leadership on Wednesday quitting his roles in the Congress — as the Convener of KPCC Digital Media, and as the National Co-coordinator of AICC Social Media and Digital Communications Cell.”
Anil had on Tuesday tweeted that despite large differences with the BJP, those who support and place the views of the British broadcaster and of former UK foreign secretary Jack Straw, the “brain behind the Iraq war” (involving the US-led coalition in 2003) over Indian institutions are setting a dangerous precedent.
The two-part BBC documentary, which claims it investigated certain aspects relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of that state, has been trashed by the Ministry of External Affairs as a “propaganda piece” that lacked objectivity and reflected a “colonial mindset”.
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#Anil #Antonys #views #BBC #documentary #immature #Tharoor
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 25, 2023