Parliament Monsoon session: Congress gagged Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, suggests PM Modi

NEW DELHI: The absence of Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari from the list of speakers fielded by Congress for debate on Operation Sindoor took a different dimension Tuesday, with PM Modi suggesting the duo, who were part of all-party delegations sent abroad, have been "gagged" by their party leadership.

In his reply to the debate in LS, the PM said members of all-party delegations sensitised the international community to Pakistan's use of terrorism as a weapon against India and the necessity for Operation Sindoor but "it seems some of them have been prevented from speaking". Suggesting Congress members were under pressure, Modi told them "not to cave to pressure from one family to give clean chit to Pakistan".

This was widely seen as reference to Tharoor and Tewari who defied Congress to be part of govt's global outreach. The speculation about Congress leadership's annoyance being the reason for them being left on the bench despite their familiarity with international affairs, gathered force on Tuesday after Tewari posted on X, "Bharat ka rehne wala hun, Bharat ki baat sunata hun," and shared a report from a news portal on him and Tharoor not participating in the debate. Tewari told reporters on Parliament campus, "If you don't understand my silences, you will never understand my words."

While Tharoor refused to comment on the issue telling reporters he was on "maun vrat", sources said the Thiruvananthapuram MP was approached by Congress at a late stage with the offer to speak, but he turned down the offer.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur said Tharoor and Tewari were not being allowed to speak by 'Rahul-occupied Congress'.