Shashi Tharoor | The outsider within

Shashi Tharoor
| Photo Credit: Illustration: Sreejith R. Kumar

Literature has often been Shashi Tharoor’s calling card, at times even more than his politics, but words have also been his Achilles heel in politics, right from the “cattle class” and “holy cows” comments in 2009. Misinterpreted or otherwise, the four-time Lok Sabha MP’s utterances and writings have frequently landed him in trouble, inviting the displeasure of the higher-ups in the Congress as well as fellow leaders in its Kerala unit.

The latest instance came last week when, in a newspaper interview, he purportedly underscored the absence of a leader in Kerala’s Congress unit and also spoke about other “options”, including speaking tours and books, if the Congress did not require his services. Though Mr. Tharoor later accused the newspaper of putting a fake spin on the Malayalam podcast to make it seem as if he was exploring political options, the damage was already done, partly due to the history of his run-ins with the State leadership of the party. The impression that he was making a pitch for a leadership role ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections did not help matters either.

The controversy came close on the heels of another one. Earlier in February, he said U.S. President Donald Trump’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a “significant development” for the country. The next day, in an article, he praised the transformation of Kerala’s industrial ecosystem driven by the “staggering growth” in the start-up sector. He also praised the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s Year of Enterprises initiative, the State’s “success” in establishing close to 3 lakh MSMEs since 2022 as well as its topping of the Ease of doing business rankings.

Mr. Tharoor’s article, published right ahead of the State government’s Invest Kerala Global Summit, came in handy for the ruling LDF, which used it to counter the Congress’s dim view of the State’s investment climate.

The State Congress leaders, who were not obviously happy at the comments, scrambled to counter his views, with the Congress’s Kerala mouthpiece Veekshanam also levelling some oblique criticism in an editorial. The issue died down only after Mr. Tharoor had a one-to-one meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

Entry into politics

Mr. Tharoor waded into politics in 2009, carrying with him the glory of a flourishing literary career and a long stint with the UN, which ended in an unsuccessful bid to the UN Secretary-General post. But, right from his early days, he had an “outsider” tag stuck to him, used openly by the opposing parties and more privately by his fellow party members.

Yet, he made up for the challenges he faced, including the not-so-friendly local party leadership, with his personal charisma. For four consecutive terms, he has held on to the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, which before his arrival used to alternate between the Congress and the Left. But, since 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been giving him a close fight, with the 2024 win by a slender margin of 16,077 votes. The outsider tag still follows him, as even local Congress members are not so happy about his prolonged absence from the constituency.

Of late, Mr. Tharoor has begun priming himself for alternative and more ambitious roles. With opinions often at variance with the leadership, he has in recent years consistently played the role of the disruptor within the party, first as one of the 23 Congress leaders (G-23) who sought reforms within the party, which culminated in his making an unsuccessful bid to the party leadership post in 2022.

His current manoeuvres in Kerala closely resemble his actions at the national level in recent years. Coming a year ahead of a crucial Assembly election, in which the Congress is attempting a comeback after being kept away from power for an unprecedented two terms, his purported comments on the leadership attain added significance.

Though Mr. Tharoor’s intentions are barely concealed, it is not going to be an easy ride to the top for someone who has ruffled so many feathers within his own party.