NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor offered a rare moment of praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi following his recent visit to the United States. Tharoor acknowledged key achievements from PM Modi’s visit, particularly on trade negotiations and defence cooperation. He welcomed the trade deal discussions and expressed optimism over India’s diplomatic engagements.
However, his remarks prompted a clarification from the Congress party, which said that individual opinions do not reflect the party’s official stance.
He stressed that when someone in the government does the right thing, it should be recognised, irrespective of who’s in power.
“For 16 years, I have been in politics. My attitude has been that when somebody in the government, whether it’s our government or some other party’s government, does the right thing or does something well, one should acknowledge and praise it, and when they do something badly, one should criticise it.”
“If I were to praise all the time, no one would take me seriously. If I were to criticise all the time, no one would take me seriously either… There’s got to be some give and take in democracy,” the Congress MP said.
Tharoor also welcomed the progress on trade talks between India and the US, saying that an agreement had been reached to conduct negotiations over the next nine months. “It’s far better than Washington hastily and unilaterally imposing some tariffs on us, which could have damaged and hurt our exports. It seems to me that something good has been achieved, and I applaud that as an Indian,” he said.
On illegal immigration, he questioned whether Modi had raised concerns over the treatment of Indian nationals deported from the US. “There are some questions that still remain… Why did the question of the way in which those illegal immigrants were returned to India not get addressed? Did PM Modi raise it behind closed doors?”
He further elaborated, “The only thing missing from what Prime Minister Modi said was the question of the manner in which those people were treated and sent back. I think otherwise his stand was absolutely correct. These are misled youth who have been encouraged or induced to migrate illegally, and they should be taken back. If they are Indian citizens, they belong in our country, we take them back. But I hope that something was said behind closed doors, not perhaps in the press conference, but inside privately, that this manner of doing it—the handcuffs, the insults, the mistreatment, the military aircraft—all that should be avoided in future.”
On Trump calling PM Modi a better negotiator than himself, the Congress MP called it an “astonishing” acknowledgment. He noted that Trump, known for branding himself as a master dealmaker, rarely compliments others, especially in areas he considers his expertise.
“I think calling Mr. Modi a better negotiator than himself is astonishing because Mr. Trump takes pride in being this sort of art of the deal that is his strength. And his admirers, including yesterday the defense secretary of the US, had said that Mr. Trump is the greatest negotiator in the world.”
“And here Mr. Trump says Mr. Modi is better than him. So I think we are looking at a very high degree of praise from a man who is not known for saying praiseworthy things. So this is good news,” Tharoor said.
‘Does not reflect opinion of party’
Following Tharoor’s comments, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh took to social media to clarify the party’s position without directly naming Tharoor. In a post on X, he wrote, “The Indian National Congress is our country’s ONLY political party where there is absolute freedom of speech as well as freedom after speech. Members give their views on issues which are, on occasion, their own and do not reflect the opinion of the party as a collective entity. It is the party’s stance that is paramount.”