He said Modi, in 2014, came up with a very persuasive agenda of anti-corruption which collapsed by the first term itself.
Published May 03, 2024 | 11:41 PM ⚊ Updated May 03, 2024 | 11:42 PM
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor. (Twitter)
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday, 3 May, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to create an image of ‘Hindu hriday samrat‘ (king of Hindu hearts) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP also claimed there was a decline in the voting percentage in certain areas in the first two phases of the Lok Sabha polls and it reflected the “indifference being felt by the traditional BJP supporter”.
Addressing a press conference in Panaji in Goa, he said Modi, in 2014, came up with a very persuasive agenda of anti-corruption, a replication of his Gujarat development model, which collapsed by the first term itself.
“In 2019, they fought the general polls on Pulwama, Balakot (terror incidents and surgical strikes in response). That was his message. Now, after 2019 he can’t say that because I have said he has been a failure in the Chinese border area,” Tharoor claimed.
“In 2024, the only message is that the PM is Hindu hriday samrat and is indulging in scaremongering about Muslims. What kind of talk is this? It is embarrassing when the PM of the country talks like this,” Tharoor claimed.
Such a message may move the hardcore Hindutva voter, who is already part of the BJP camp, but not the neutral voter, the senior Congress leader asserted.
“We believe the decline of votes in certain areas is a reflection of the indifference being felt by the traditional BJP supporter,” he added.
He also said he had taken up the issue of dual citizenship with authorities in the past but did not get much support.
Tharoor said people living abroad must be allowed to keep their Indian passports, adding the issue requires a “more expansive understanding”.
“I had taken up this issue in the past but did not find support on dual citizenship from the present government or the BJP or the previous government,” he said.
“A lot of Indians living abroad may have had to take a foreign passport for reasons like professional convenience, travel, work etc. But their hearts are still here and they still feel an emotional connection to their motherland. We need to find concrete ways of recognising that,” Tharoor added.
Tharoor, a former diplomat who had earlier served as under-secretary-general of the United Nations, also said the Overseas Citizenship of India was actually a misnomer.
“It is not citizenship, it is only a lifetime visa. And as we have seen with the BJP government, even that visa can be revoked by the government. We definitely need to revisit this policy and try and make it more durable,” he asserted.
He said there was a need to encourage and permit the country’s citizens to keep their passports even when circumstances require them to take another passport abroad.
“But, we have to find a legal formula to do that,” Tharoor said, adding he would be a voice for dual citizenship in Parliament.
Dual citizenship is not permitted in India as per provisions of Article 9 of the Constitution read along with Section 9 of the Citizenship Act 1955.
(With PTI inputs)
