Kerala Congress Unit Calls Tharoor Row ‘a Closed Chapter’, Rules Out Action

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has described the controversy over Shashi Tharoor’s remarks on praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “a closed chapter”, after the Thiruvananthapuram MP said his words had been misunderstood.

No action against Tharoor

KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said Tharoor would not face any action, and that other party leaders had been told not to discuss the matter further.

How the row began

The controversy started when Tharoor backed party colleague Jairam Ramesh, who had said publicly that it was wrong to “demonise Modi”.

Tharoor said he had argued for six years that Modi should be praised when he did the right thing, as this would make the party’s criticism more credible when he went wrong. He said he welcomed other opposition figures coming round to a view for which he had once been attacked.

On Tuesday, Tharoor defended his position, saying fellow Congress members should respect his approach even if they disagreed with it. He said he was surprised to be labelled a “Modi praiser” by Mullappally, given that he had opposed the Prime Minister in Lok Sabha debates and had written a critical book, ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister’.

Mullappally also quoted from a statement attributed to Tharoor which said that criticising Modi for everything was uncalled for, and that acknowledging his good work would make criticism more believable.

See also: Indian National Congress, Lok Sabha members.

Originally published on 29 August 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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