New Delhi, June 25 (IANS) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge took a veiled dig at senior party leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday, stating that the Thiruvananthapuram MP owed his place in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to his command of the English language.

Amid the controversy over Tharoor’s praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kharge said, at a press conference: “I don’t read English, but his (Tharoor’s) English is very good. That’s why we made him a member of the Working Committee.”

The remark came days after Tharoor, in an article, described Modi’s “energy, dynamism and willingness to engage” as a “prime asset” for India on the global stage — comments that have drawn criticism within the Congress ranks.

Taking a jibe at Tharoor, Kharge further said: “The entire Opposition said the country stands with the Indian Army. It was I who first raised my voice and said the nation is above all. But some people say Modi comes first, and the country later. What should we do about that?” he asked.

Tharoor, addressing his supporters in Thiruvananthapuram last week, had admitted to having differences with the party’s top brass. “Yes, I have differences of opinion with the Congress leadership — that is known. Some matters are in the public domain. I will speak to the leadership directly if needed. But I’m not going anywhere,” he had said.

Tharoor recently led a multi-party delegation to several countries to counter Pakistan’s narrative on cross-border terrorism, following the deadly terror strike in Pahalgam that left 26 people dead.

Kharge, at the press conference held at the Indira Bhavan here, launched a scathing attack on the BJP and Prime Minister Modi, accusing them of misusing the 50th anniversary of the Emergency to divert attention from their failures and undermine the Indian Constitution.

“PM Modi is repeatedly invoking a period that the country has moved past. He is making an issue out of something that people have already forgotten.”

Taking a dig at the BJP’s ideological roots, Kharge alleged that members associated with the RSS had once burned photos of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mahatma Gandhi at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan and had even demanded elements of Manusmriti be included in the Constitution.

–IANS

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