Pawan Khera's 2018 book reference after Shashi Tharoor's 'zealots' swipe: ‘The shameless…’

Congress leaders clash over surgical strikes. Pawan Khera shared Shashi Tharoor's criticism from his book after Tharoor clarified his statements in Panama.

Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday took a subtle jibe at party colleague Shashi Tharoor by sharing a passage from his 2018 book ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister’, in which the MP criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party for what he called the “shameless exploitation” of the 2016 surgical strikes for electoral gain.

Congress leader Pawan Khera addresses a press conference at AICC in New Delhi. (File)

Pawan Khera's post on X comes after Shashi Tharoor's statements in Panama, where he lauded India's counter-terrorism measures, including the 2016 Uri surgical strike and the 2019 Balakot airstrike, as marking a shift in India's approach to terrorism.

“I agree with that Dr @ShashiTharoor who wrote about surgical strikes in his book in 2018 - 'The Paradoxical Prime Minister',” Pawan Khera posted in response to Shashi Tharoor's recent remarks praising the Narendra Modi government's Operation Sindoor.

In the underlined passage from Tharoor's book, reads, “The shameless exploitation of the 2016 surgical strikes along the Line of Control with Pakistan, and a military raid in hot pursuit of rebels in Myanmar, as party election tool--something the Congress had never done despite having authorized several such strikes earlier--marked a particularly disgraceful dilution of the principle that national security issues require both discretion and non-partisanship.”

In a post on X earlier on Thursday, Tharoor clarified and pointed out that he spoke only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars.

"After a long and successful day in Panama, I have to wind up at midnight where with departure for Bogota, Colombia in six hours, so I don't really have time for this -- but anyway: For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC in the past, I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars," Tharoor said in an apparent dig at the Congress leaders, especially Udit Raj who criticised the MP over his statement in Panama.

“My remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone, during which previous Indian responses were both restrained and constrained by our responsible respect for the LoC and the IB,” Tharoor clarified.

What did Shashi Tharoor say on surgical strikes?

Tharoor, who is leading a multi-party delegation to five countries, while speaking in Panama, reportedly said that when "for the first time" India breached the LoC between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base that was something we had not done before.

Udit Raj's 'super spokesperson of BJP' dig at Tharoor

Tagging Tharoor's remarks, Udit Raj said, "My dear Shashi Tharoor, Alas! I could prevail upon PM Modi to declare you as super spokesperson of BJP, even declaring (you) as foreign minister before landing in India. How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi , India never crossed LoC and International border."

"In 1965 Indian Army entered Pakistan at multiple points, which completely surprised the Pakistanis in the Lahore sector. In 1971, India tore Pakistan in two pieces and during UPA government several surgical strikes were unleashed but drum beating was not done to encash (it) politically," he said.

Udit Raj, chairman of the Unorganised Workers and Employees Congress Other Than Professionals, asked how you could be so dishonest to the party that gave you so much.

Pawan Khera reposts Udit Raj's comments

Raj's post on X was also reposted by Congress's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera.

Later, speaking with the media, Raj hit out at Tharoor for his remarks, saying "What was 1971? Under Manmohan Singh, many surgical strikes took place. Modi ji is making a mistake, he should make Tharoor super spokesperson of the BJP."

The BJP would not find anyone better than him to argue for them, he said.

Tharoor has gone there to expose Pakistan but is busy lauding the prime minister, Raj said.

Taking a swipe at Tharoor, Khera posted a picture which shows officers of the 4 Sikh Regiment posing outside a captured Pakistani police station in Burki, Lahore district.

"This image is from the Battle of Burki (also known as the Battle of Lahore, 1965), a significant engagement during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, fought between Indian infantry units and Pakistani armoured forces," Khera said.

"Burki is a village located southeast of Lahore, near the India-Pakistan border, approximately 11 km from Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport, connected to the city by a bridge over the Bambawali-Ravi-Bedian (BRB) Canal. CC @ShashiTharoor," Khera posted.

In another post, Khera put out media report which quoted former prime minister Manmohan Singh as saying that India carried out multiple surgical strikes under the UPA rule.

"Former PM Manmohan Singh : Many Surgical Strikes Conducted Under UPA…. CC @ShashiTharoor," Khera said in his post which was reposted by Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh.

(With inputs from PTI)