NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor says that PM Modi’s post-victory speeches about ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas’ promise can’t be trusted.
Tharoor, a former UN Under-Secretary General, speaking exclusively with Times Of India says that Modi’s speeches in reality did not match the rhetoric.
‘As an Indian, I want India to do well. If he really means what he has said and if he is really able to bring, as he said ‘virodhiyon ko bhi le aayeinge apne saath’ — if he really wants to reach out to the opposition, if he is serious about ‘sabka vishwas’, that means he has to reach out to people who have so far been demonised by his party. The proof will come from their side, not from us. We, after seeing the reality of last five years, are not prepared to take him at his word till we see real action on it,” said Tharoor, who has been representing Thiruvananthapuram since 2009.
He said the right-wing has become the mainstream. The Congress and other opposition parties must challenge the belief that the Hindutva concept of India, as essentially a Hindu country, has triumphed over the Nehruvian view of secularism that India is a country of multiple religions, castes, cultures and identities.
“Many say we lost the battle, the majoritarian triumphalism of BJP is being welcomed across north India. Diversity is the strength of India. If we are going to change our national unity into national uniformity, what remains? Our way is also the way of the majority as BJP only got 37% votes while 63% have not bought into their idea of India.”
On Rahul Gandhi’s offer to resign as Congress president, Tharoor insisted that he should continue as the Congress President and to continue and lead the fight back.
In 2014, Tharoor won by a narrow margin of 15,000-odd votes against BJP veteran O. Rajagopal. In 2019, he defeated Kummanam Rajasekharan of the BJP by 99,989 votes.