Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday clarified that his comments on the India-Pakistan conflict were made in a personal capacity, as an “Indian and a proud citizen”, and did not reflect the official stand of the party.
Speaking to reporters, the Lok Sabha MP from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram also expressed ignorance over reports that a section of Congress leaders felt he had crossed the “Lakshman Rekha – a metaphor originating in Ramayana, loosely meaning “boundary” – through his repeated comments on the conflict.
“People seem to think I have knowledge on some of these subjects. So they come and ask me my views. And I make it very clear, sometimes explicitly and sometimes implicitly, that I am expressing my personal views as an Indian, as a proud citizen,” Mr Tharoor told reporters.
Asked about some Congress leaders’ views that he had crossed his limits, he said: “I don’t know where this comes from. I was at a closed door meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). I was there till 6.35pm for the meeting that began at 4.30pm. And I must say that at that time, there was certainly no reference to any of this and no reference to me. If something happened thereafter, I am yet to be informed about it. So when I am informed, I will react to it.”
He added: “I don’t see much point in reacting to something of which there has not been no official communication to me of any kind, nor any discussion that I was a part of.”
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