What happens to the Congress Party with just 41 seats in the Lok Sabha may be of little moment. But Shashi Tharoor appears to be a Congress leader unfortunately jinxed. His removal from the post of Union External Affairs Minister of State during the UPA II regime under a cloud was a controversial decision. Subsequently he was taken back as Minister of State for HRD. Later his wife, Sunanda, died in suspicious circumstances and is now suspected to have been murdered. But the recent decision to remove him from the office of spokesperson of the Congress was for a different reason and is extremely controversial. It was because he accepted an invitation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the Clean India Campaign. The PM’s move was unexceptionable and Thaoor’s praise for him was also so. It may be recalled that Congress Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi also appreciated Modi’s venture and himself started a Clean Assam Campaign with a broom. The Congress High Command has taken a hasty decision. Tharoor had long been a critic of the BJP and was given no opportunity to defend himself though Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh backed him.
No doubt it was the Kerala unit of the Congress which put pressure on the High Command. Although there is the adage that the role of the Opposition is to oppose, it does not follow that every action of the ruling party should be criticized by it. The Congress itself had attacked the BJP for its obstructionist attitude on issues where their views converged. Clean India Campaign is as clean an operation as fighting for children’s rights or financial inclusion. What has gone against Tharoor is the plethora of charges against him, whether or not substantiated.
