New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor pointed out that dragging the confrontation with Pakistan is not the biggest priority for India right now, as he rejected the parallels being drawn between former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s actions in the 1971 war with those of the present escalation of tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad following Operation Sindoor.
His comments come as social media is flooding with comparisons between Indira Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with Congress leaders also expressing their opinion.
Tharoor was quoted as saying by news agency ANI: “1971 was a great achievement. Indira Gandhi rewrote the map of the subcontinent, but the circumstances were different. Bangladesh was fighting a moral cause, and liberating Bangladesh was a clear objective. Just keeping on firing shells at Pakistan is not a clear objective.”
#WATCH | Delhi | On the understanding reached between Indian and Pakistan, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, “We had reached a stage where the escalation was needlessly getting out of control. Peace is necessary for us. The truth is that the circumstances of 1971 are not the… pic.twitter.com/dowttNX1wj
— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2025
‘Is this the biggest priority for India today?’
Responding to the ceasefire, he added that dragging the conflict would have caused many deaths on both sides. He pointed out: “Today’s Pakistan is a different situation. Their military equipment and the damage they can do are different. Bangladesh was fighting a moral cause to actually bring people to freedom and liberation. That was a completely different story. This is a different story. We would have ended up with much longer, protracted conflicts with a lot of loss of lives on both sides. Is this the biggest priority for India today? No, it is not.”
On Saturday, Congress leaders recalled Indira Gandhi’s actions as hostilities with Pakistan eased. Amid the announcement of ceasefire understanding between the two neighbours, Congress’ Pawan Khera posted images of the former Prime Minister on X.
Another Congress leader Ashok Gehlot also put up old images of Indira Gandhi on Facebook, and captioned them, “Indira Ji, today the whole country is remembering you…”
