New Delhi: Congress leader Pawan Khera has strongly refuted party MP Shashi Tharoor’s remarks made during an international visit, where Tharoor claimed that India crossed the Line of Control (LoC) for the first time during the 2015 surgical strikes under the Narendra Modi government. Khera has also backed fellow Congress leader Udit Raj, who criticised Tharoor for downplaying the military legacy of earlier Congress-led governments.
Tharoor, who is leading an all-party delegation under Operation Sindoor, had said in Panama that India had not crossed the LoC even during the Kargil War, suggesting that the 2015 and 2019 operations marked a new approach. The comments were perceived by party colleagues as an endorsement of the BJP’s narrative on national security.
‘Super spokesperson of the BJP’
In response, Udit Raj accused Tharoor of acting like a “super spokesperson of the BJP” and questioned his knowledge of India’s military history. He cited India’s military incursions in the 1965 and 1971 wars, and claimed that several surgical strikes were also conducted during the UPA regime, but without publicity.
Congress leader Udit Raj on social media X wrote: “My dear @ShashiTharoor. Alas ! I could prevail upon PM Modi to declare you as super spokesperson of BJP , even declaring as foreign minister before landing in India. How could you denigrate the golden history of Congress by saying that before PM Modi , India never crossed LOC and International border. In 1965 Indian Army entered Pakistan at multiple points, which completely surprised the Pakistanis in the Lahore sector. In 1971 , India tore Pakistan in two pieces and during UPA Govt several surgical strikes were unleashed but drum beating was not done to encash politically. How could you be so dishonest to the party which gave you so much?”
Pawan Khera echoed Raj’s concerns and shared archival material to back the claim that Congress-led governments had also undertaken cross-border operations. He quoted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s 2016 statement to a parliamentary committee acknowledging that such counter-terrorist operations had occurred earlier but were not publicised.
Khera quotes S Jaishankar
Khera in a post on social media platform X wrote: “Professionally done, target-specific, limited-calibre counter-terrorist operations have been carried out across the LoC in the past too, but this is for the first time that the government has made it public,” Jaishankar said this to the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs in October 2016. CC : @ShashiTharoor”. He also shared a news clip about the same.
Khera also circulated a video clip of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stating that surgical strikes had indeed been conducted under the UPA, underscoring that the Congress had refrained from politicising military actions.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh also endorsed Raj’s statement, indicating broader internal discontent with Tharoor’s comments.
