Shashi Tharoor will soon have to bite the dust. That’s the prediction of political pundits in the power corridors of Delhi. There is wide spread criticism against him ever since he became Minister of State for External Affairs. This is because his detractors (specially in the Congress party) retort that men who have no control over their use of words, who do not understand the repercussions their statements/actions might bring about, do not deserve to be a part of the Indian political spectrum. Parties face huge embarrassment time and again because of such players and run for cover. Be it his Cattle-class remarks or his extravagant stay in five star hotels at Govt expense or the latest IPL controversy, Tharoor has caused tremendous embarrassment to the Govt as well as the Congress party but has always managed to scrape out because of his proximity to Sonia Gandhi. It will be interesting to see whether he manages to stay on yet again or is removed from his post.
Tharoor is a new age politician who is suave, classy & slick and based on his impeccable diction & articulation, has won many hearts among urban Indians. But this media-savvy new breed does not realise that it is not a child’s play to be in Indian politics and better off still to be a part of the Central Govt. Sure, he enjoys terrific clout in the State Dept’s of various countries because of his past role as Under Secretary General of the UN, but that certainly does not qualify him as eligible to be a part of mainstream Indian politics. Being in the news for the wrong reasons, he tweets more on domestic issues than international ones and virtually has an opinion on every subject that is not his area of expertise. Rather, he should be wise enough to focus only on his domain of work and not court meaningless controversies at the pretext of being a modern politician. In contrast, he should take lessons from several other youngsters in the Govt like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Jitin Prasada etc, sons of former bigwigs, who have a far better understanding of the way our politics work and are truly working to make a difference in their respective areas.
Tharoor’s election to the parliament this time too came as a surprise to many. Although, his victory is largely attributed to the weakness of the opposing candidates and the frustration of the voters of Trivandrum against the incumbent, and not because the polity thought that this man is god sent and rightly deserves the seat. Post victory, it is largely unheard of about Tharoor visiting his home constituency.
Leaving aside all gimmicks, he should genuinely focus on External Affairs and ideally, should be instrumental in pitching for India’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council. He should take the lead in mending India’s foreign relations with countries like China and others since his boss, the highly qualified and intellectual, but in my opinion, totally, totally useless, Mr. SM Krishna (the pair is two to tango) is clearly making a mockery of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. At present, it seems as though our International relations are handled only by the Prime Minister and our National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon who is undoubtedly better suited for the role.
So my advise to Mr. Tharoor is that he must make sincere efforts to stay away from all public hullabaloo and ensure his actions speak louder than words. It is high time he proves his worthiness that he was and is the right choice for the job. That will satisfy the people of India to a great deal.
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