Congress leader Udit Raj sharply criticized Shashi Tharoor’s comments on the recent Pahalgam terror attack, questioning his political loyalty and stance on national security. Raj, speaking to ANI on Sunday, wondered aloud whether Tharoor was aligned with the Congress or the BJP, after Tharoor compared the attack to an intelligence failure similar to the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
“I want to ask Shashi Tharoor, is he in the Congress party or the BJP? Is he trying to become a super-BJP man? Shashi Tharoor should ask the BJP when they will take PoK. Has he become the advocate of the BJP?” Raj remarked in response to Tharoor’s statements.
Tharoor had remarked earlier that the April 22 Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 people, including one Nepalese national, was likely the result of intelligence failure, drawing a comparison to Israel’s intelligence failure in the October 2023 Hamas attack. He suggested that, like Israel, India should wait until the crisis is over before demanding accountability.
Raj, however, questioned Tharoor’s comments, particularly his comparison of the attack to global terror incidents, and whether the Congress leader had been appointed as a spokesperson for the BJP.
Tharoor defended his position by acknowledging intelligence failures while pointing out that many successful thwarted terror attacks go unreported, emphasizing that focusing solely on failures is not productive.