Not only Shashi Tharoor but also Manish Tewari… chinks in Congress armour

As the Indian National Congress attempts to challenge the Narendra Modi government during the ongoing Operation Sindoor debate, internal tensions are making headlines and placing the main Opposition in a difficult position. Amid speculation about why senior party leader Shashi Tharoor has not spoken in the debate, another MP's social media post has embarrassed the Congress and provided fresh ammunition to the BJP. Former Union Minister and Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari today shared a screenshot of a news report explaining why he and Tharoor were sidelined for a debate.

A cryptic post

The Chandigarh MP's post on X was captioned with the evergreen patriotic song from Purab Aur Pachhim (1970): "Hai preet jahaan ki reet sada, main geet wahaan ke gaata hoon, Bharat ka rehne waala hoon, Bharat ki baat sunata hoon. Jai Hind," the Congress MP wrote. When the media questioned him about his post outside Parliament, the Congress MP replied, "There is a saying in English, 'If you don't understand my silence, you will never understand my words'." 

Both Tewari and Tharoor, who are not on the Congress list of speakers for the Parliament debate, were part of the Indian delegations that travelled abroad as part of New Delhi's global outreach after Operation Sindoor. Amar Singh, the Fatehgarh Sahib MP who was part of a delegation, is also not on the list. Veteran Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Salman Khurshid were part of the delegations, but they are not sitting MPs.

Some reports have claimed that Tewari reached out to the party leadership and requested to speak, but this request was turned down. They have said the party was concerned that the MPs part of the Indian delegations that went abroad may not mount as scathing an attack on the government as the Opposition party wants them to.

है प्रीत जहां की रीत सदा

मैं गीत वहां के गाता हूं

भारत का रहने वाला हूं

भारत की बात सुनाता हूं

Hai preet jahaan ki reet sada

Main geet wahaan ke gaata hoon

Bharat ka rehne waala hoon

Bharat ki baat sunata hoon

- Jai Hind pic.twitter.com/tP5VjiH2aD

— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) July 29, 2025

As the Operation Sindoor debate began yesterday, the Congress list of speakers raised significant questions. The name of Tharoor, a former diplomat and a phenomenal public speaker, was not on the list. When the media asked him about this outside the Parliament, he replied with a smile, "maunvrat" -- meaning a "vow of silence".

Sources said that Tharoor had refused to toe the party line during the debate and said he would not contradict himself "for the sake of party messaging". This follows months of unease between Tharoor and the Congress leadership over his public comments in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack and India's counterstrike Operation Sindoor.

Tharoor recently said his "first loyalty" lies with the nation. "Parties are a means of making the nation better. So to my mind, whichever party you belong to, the objective of that party is to create a better India in its own way."

The BJP, meanwhile, sensed a political opportunity in the conspicuous omission of key leaders from the Congress list of speakers. Senior BJP leader Baijayant Jay Panda took a dig at the Congress, saying the party is not allowing Tharoor to speak. "There are several leaders in your (Congress) party who can speak well... My friend Shashi Tharoor Ji, who is a good speaker, is not allowed to speak by his party," he said.