Shashi Tharoor's post praising Trump-Mamdani meeting gives BJP ammo to attack Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Lauding the cordial meeting between US President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor Saturday said "this is how democracy should work and hoped to see this happen in India".

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla commended Tharoor for his remarks and said he hoped that Rahul Gandhi would get the message.


After months of attacks against each other during the high voltage New York City mayoral election, Trump and Mamdani adopted a mutually warm tone during their first meeting at the White House in Washington DC. Reposting on X a video of a media interaction where Trump and Mamdani took questions on their meeting, Tharoor said, "This is how democracy should work. Fight passionately for your point of view in elections, with no rhetorical holds barred. But once it's over, and the people have spoken, learn to cooperate with each other in the common interests of the nation you are both pledged to serve."

"I would love to see more of this in India, and I'm trying to do my part," the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram added.

Reacting to Tharoor's remarks, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla in a post on X said, "Once again, Shashi Tharoor reminds Congress to put India first, not Parivar. To behave democratically and not like sore losers. But will Rahul Gandhi get the message? One more Fatwa loading against Shashi?" Poonawala posed in a post on X.

On November 18, Tharoor's praise for PM Narendra Modi's speech at a media function triggered a social media storm with Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit asking Tharoor to explain how BJP's policies, which are against Congress's principles, are helping the country and why he is staying on in Congress if he agrees with BJP. AICC spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also said that she did not find find any reason to praise the PM's speech.

On Nov 9, Congress had "dissociated" itself from Tharoor's statement praising veteran BJP leader L K Advani and made it clear that "like always he speaks for himself and the fact that he continues to do so as a CWC member reflects the party's democratic and liberal spirit".

Congress's remarks had come after Tharoor, reacting to criticism over his birthday greetings for Advani, said reducing the veteran BJP leader's long years of service to one episode, however significant, is unfair. He also said that when the totality of Jawaharlal Nehru's career cannot be judged by the China setback and Indira Gandhi's by the Emergency alone, he believes "we should extend the same courtesy to Advaniji".
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