New Delhi, June 26: From “the wings are yours” to “even a free bird must watch the skies”, the Shashi Tharoor-Congress rift took a turn towards what some termed a “war of birds” on Thursday as party leader Manickam Tagore sought to establish the pecking order with an X message to his colleague.
Tharoor, who has been grabbing attention for his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is known for his wordplay, started the bird analogy battle on Wednesday. And Tagore followed the cue a day later.
On Wednesday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge took a jibe at Tharoor and said his party believes in the “country first” mantra but for some it is “Modi first and country later”. Soon after, Tharoor put out a cryptic post on X with an image of a bird and this caption: “Don’t ask permission to fly. The wings are yours. And the sky belongs to no one…” The post was seen by many as the Thiruvananthapuram MP’s response to the dig with a veiled message that he would do his own thing and won’t be restrained.
A day later, Tagore said in direct response, “Don’t ask permission to fly. Birds don’t need clearance to rise. But in today even a free bird must watch the skies — hawks, vultures, and ‘eagles’ are always hunting. Freedom isn’t free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers.”
To drive home his point, he shared a chart with the list of birds known as “hunters of the sky”. (PTI)
