Shashi Tharoor Does it Again, Tweets Support for PM Modi With 'Language Challenge'

New Delhi: Rebuke from colleagues, a notice and jokes on Twitter — it seems nothing can stop Congress MP Shashi Tharoor from ‘praising’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Friday, Tharoor tweeted in support of PM Modi’s initiative to “learn one new word a day from an Indian language other than our own”. The Thiruvananthapuram MP was referring to the Prime Minister’s video address at the Manorama News Conclave.

“PrimeMinister @NarendraModi ended his speech at the #manoramanewsconclave by suggesting we all learn one new word a day from an Indian language other than our own. I welcome this departure from Hindi dominance & gladly take him up on this #LanguageChallenge,” Tharoor tweeted.

But that’s not where the MP, known for being verbose, stopped. He took on the challenge by introducing the word “pluralism” and then added its Hindi and Malayalam translations.

Tharoor had landed in trouble after he allegedly praised PM Modi by expressing support for party colleague Jairam Ramesh who had publicly declared that it is wrong to “demonise the Prime Minister”.

He was then served with a notice by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, responding to which he said: "As you know, I have argued for six years now that Narendra Modi should be praised whenever he says or does the right thing, which would add credibility to our criticisms whenever he errs. I welcome others in opposition coming around to a view for which I was excoriated at the time."

He also urged his party to think why it won less than 20% votes in the last elections while the BJP managed to increase its vote share from 31% to 37% over the last five years.

“Modi has done little worth praising. But he has been effective in raising his vote percentage across India from 31% in 2014 to 37% in 2019, and as a party which stayed at around 19% in both elections, we in the Congress need to make an effort to understand why,” Tharoor wrote to KPCC President Mullapally Ramachandran who had sent him the notice.

“Clearly enough voters thought he was delivering something for them -- we need to acknowledge that, but point out its limitations: yes, he built toilets, but 60% of them don't have running water; yes, he gave poor rural women gas cylinders, but 92% of them can't afford refills. But if we act as if he has done nothing, however flawed, and people still voted for him, then we are saying that people are stupid, which is not a position that wins you votes.”

"I have been a strong critic of the Modi government and I hope a constructive one," he wrote.