Admiration for PM has gone beyond physical world: Congress mocks Tharoor
The Congress on Saturday took a swipe at senior party leader Shashi Tharoor over his perceived "admiration" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying it appeared
The Congress on Saturday took a swipe at senior party leader Shashi Tharoor over his perceived "admiration" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying it appeared to have "transcended the physical world" and that he now seemed capable of hearing things the prime minister had never even said. Responding to the criticism, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said it was extraordinary that a statement about protecting Indian civilian sailors had been given a partisan twist. Read Full Story The controversy erupted over Tharoor's reported remarks that PM Modi had raised the issue of the safety of civilian sailors during both his public and private interactions with the president. "It is important to convey the message that in wartime, civilian sailors on commercial ships should not be targets of combat. They are not soldiers, and that is the message PM Modi conveyed," Tharoor was quoted as saying. #WATCH | Delhi | On the bilateral meeting between PM Modi and US President Donald Trump, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, "PM Modi made his point clear both in the public and private meeting with the President. It is important to convey the message that in wartime, civilian pic.twitter.com/0PMRjNNObK— ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2026 Responding to the criticism in a post on X, Tharoor said it was "extraordinary" that a statement about protecting Indian civilian sailors was being turned into a partisan political controversy. "Three Indians lost their lives. My remarks were about the safety of our citizens and the principle that civilian seafarers should never be targets of military action," he said. "If some people are more interested in scoring political points than addressing that concern, that says more about them than it does about me," the Congress MP added.
Concern for Indian lives should unite us, not divide us, he asserted. Later, sharing a video clip of his remarks at the press conference on X, Khera took another swipe at Tharoor, saying, "My senior colleague Dr Shashi Tharoor's admiration for PM Modi appears to have transcended the limitations of the physical world. He now seems capable of hearing what Modi doesn't even say." My senior colleague Dr Shashi Tharoor's admiration for PM Modi appears to have transcended the limitations of the physical world. He now seems capable of hearing what Modi doesn't even say. According to the official MEA readout of the Modi–Trump meeting on the sidelines of the pic.twitter.com/6U7BFRxAgZ— Pawan Khera (@Pawankhera) June 20, 2026 Khera further pointed out that, according to the official Ministry of External Affairs readout of PM Modi's meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, there was no mention of the "cold-blooded killing" of three Indian sailors by the United States in the Gulf of Oman. "This was the first Modi-Trump meeting after Operation Sindoor, yet there is no indication that Modi challenged Trump's repeated claim, now made over 120 times, that he secured a ceasefire by threatening India with trade consequences," the Congress leader said. Khera also noted that the official readout made no reference to the alleged attack on the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which had been India's guest during MILAN-2026, describing it as an incident in India's strategic neighbourhood. "And yet, Tharoor ji somehow heard forceful assertions, robust pushback and uncompromising diplomacy that never made it into the official record. Perhaps the rest of us are constrained by ordinary human senses.
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