Evidence of eating pudding: Shashi Tharoor at the Congress think tank
Tharoor, one of a group of 23 leaders who wrote a letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 calling for major reforms, said that at the end of the day, “reformists” wanted a more consultative process where different voices could be heard and taken. Consider before making a decision.
“If such discussions had taken place in the proposed advisory council, the objectives could have been met,” he told PTI in an interview.
But that remains to be seen, Tharoor added.
“Both our proposals, such as the revival of the parliamentary board and the idea of electing a working committee, were intended to bring a new voice to the table. After such discussions, the final decision will always depend on the leadership,” he asserted.
After a brainstorming session in Udaipur on May 13-15, Sonia Gandhi announced an advisory group drawn from the Congress Working Committee. He said it was “not a joint decision-making body” and would help him benefit from the vast experience of his senior colleagues.
Referring to the talks at the camp, Tharoor said, “Serious discussions were held in a constructive spirit in many of the discussions on change in Hawaii. But it remains to be seen whether it will end where many of us wanted it.”
The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram added, “Let’s say a process has started which is yet to be unveiled in the next few months.
He said that the issue of taking Rahul Gandhi as party president was not discussed to the best of his knowledge. Although some of his colleagues certainly made such suggestions, they were not part of a structured discussion, the Congress leader said.
“Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Rahul Gandhi will be the favorite of most of the party workers. He did not indicate whether he wanted the job.”
“I think we have to wait for the proposed AICC (All India Congress Committee) to resolve this issue,” Tharoor said.
On the issue of ‘soft Hindutva’, hotly debated in the camp, he said it was clear that the party’s fundamental commitment to pluralism and diversity in India was not “negotiable”.
“We have long used the term secularism for this, but secularism means distance from religion, where we are deeply involved in religious rites, ceremonies, rituals, festivals and conventions in India. There is no problem in showing respect to all members of Congress. Tharoor said.
As an MP, he insisted, he visited temples, churches and mosques in his constituency all the time – as a devotee to the temple, to show respect to the sacred faith of his constituents and fellow citizens.
It may not seem very secular, but it is by no means a ‘soft Hinduism’. Which teaches us recognition of differences, “Tharoor said.
Such majority politics is foreign to Congress, he stressed.
Regional parties such as Rahul Gandhi criticized the remarks that they could not fight the BJP-RSS because they lacked ideology, Tharoor said he did not think their vision was regional by definition where Congress A national team with a presence in every district of the country.
“My personal view is that all our like-minded parties, both regional and national, must work together to fight the NDA in 2024. Otherwise, we will see an irreversible transformation of India into an intolerant, narrow-minded dictatorship. A majority-minded Led by the BJP, ”he said.
Asked about the coalition’s leadership in the camp and the steps taken to reform a parliamentary board that has not been fully adopted, Tharoor said he was on the political committee and did not keep secret the discussions in the organizing committee where such issues were addressed.
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