Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has lashed out at his detractors—both within and outside his party—for misinterpreting his recent statement regarding India’s cross-border surgical strikes. Tharoor had earlier remarked that India conducted its first cross-LoC surgical strike in 2016 under the Narendra Modi government following the Uri terror attack. His comments, made during a speech in Panama City as part of the Centre’s global anti-terrorism outreach, triggered a sharp backlash from the Congress.
Responding to the criticism, Tharoor took to social media platform X to clarify that his remarks referred specifically to retaliatory actions against terrorist attacks, not to past military operations or wars. “For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC in the past,” he wrote, “I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars.”
Tharoor explained that earlier governments had exercised restraint in responding to cross-border terror threats, maintaining respect for the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB). He emphasized that his comments were contextualized by a reference to a string of terror incidents in recent years and the evolving nature of India’s response.
Dismissing the outrage directed at him, Tharoor said, “Critics and trolls are welcome to distort my views and words as they see fit. I genuinely have better things to do.”
The controversy has further deepened the divide between Tharoor and the Congress leadership, especially as tensions simmered over his decision to lead a multi-party delegation as part of the Centre’s Operation Sindoor initiative. His presence in the outreach program had already drawn ire from sections of the party that accused him of aligning too closely with the ruling BJP on foreign policy matters.
Despite the backlash, Tharoor reiterated in Panama that the 2016 surgical strikes represented a turning point in India’s response to cross-border terrorism. “For the first time, India breached the Line of Control between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launch pad, following the Uri strike,” he said, underlining a shift in deterrence strategy.
As internal dissent continues, Tharoor remains defiant, standing by his words while challenging critics to engage with the substance of his arguments rather than resorting to distortion.
