Shashi Tharoor's message to Pakistan on Bilawal Bhutto's remark: ‘Enemies must understand’
Shashi Tharoor said India's enemies must understand that politics in India stops when the nation's self-respect is involved. The Thiruvananthapuram MP supported Bhupesh Baghel's statement on Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto's comment on PM Modi.
Endorsing Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel's stand on Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto's personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said the country stands together when it comes to standing up internationally. "Our enemies and ill-wishers would be well-advised to understand that in India, politics stops when our nation's self-respect is involved," Shashi Tharoor tweeted.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday condemned Bilawal's comment and said no one has the right to make such a statement about the Indian Prime Minister. "We have different political ideologies but this is about the nation and Modi is our PM," Baghel commented.
Protests were held across the country on Saturday against Bilawal's personal attack on PM Modi at the United Nations where India and Pakistan exchanged barbs over the issue of terrorism. The war of words started with Bilawal raising the Kashmir issue at the UN to which Jaishankar's sharp reply was: those who hosted Laden have no authority to sermonise at the council. This provoked Pakistan's junior foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar to issue another statement accusing India of terrorism to which Jaishankar said the world has not forgotten who has the fingerprints on the terror activities. Bilawal launched a personal attack against PM Modi and said RSS drew inspiration from Hitler.
The external affairs ministry issued a statement condemning the comment as a new low even for Pakistan.
While many Congress leaders, including Tharoor, Baghel and Sanjay Nirupam, defended PM Modi and condemned the Pakistan foreign minister's comment, many BJP leaders said the language used by Bilawal is similar to the language of Rahul Gandhi.
Shashi Tharoor recently praised foreign minister S Jaishankar for India abstaining on a UN resolution establishing humanitarian exemption across all United Nations sanctions regimes.