Pawan Khera’s ‘Maha-Maanav Modi’ jibe at Shashi Tharoor over sailor deaths reignites Congress rift

New Delhi: The uneasy relationship between senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and his party leadership was back in focus Saturday after MP and AICC communications department chairman Pawan Khera took a fresh swipe at the Thiruvananthapuram MP, describing him as a devotee of “Maha-Maanav Modi” over his remarks on PM Narendra Modi’s handling of the death of three Indian sailors in a US ship strike.

The barb has once again brought to the surface the Congress leadership’s apparent discomfort with Tharoor’s praise of the Modi government on issues relating to foreign policy and national security.

“Tharoorji somehow heard forceful assertions, robust pushback, and uncompromising diplomacy that never made it into the official record.”

He added: “Perhaps the rest of us are constrained by ordinary human senses. For devotees of the ‘Maha-Maanav Modi’, the less he says, the more they hear.”

My senior colleague Dr Shashi Tharoor’s admiration for PM Modi appears to have transcended the limitations of the physical world. He now seems capable of hearing what Modi doesn’t even say.

According to the official MEA readout of the Modi–Trump meeting on the sidelines of the… pic.twitter.com/6U7BFRxAgZ

— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 ಪವನ್ ಖೇರಾ (@Pawankhera) June 20, 2026

Prior to Khera’s comments, Tharoor had taken to X accusing critics of turning a humanitarian issue into a political controversy.

“Frankly, I find it extraordinary that a statement about protecting Indian civilian sailors is being twisted into a partisan political controversy,” he wrote.

“Three Indians lost their lives. My remarks were about the safety of our citizens and the principle that civilian seafarers should never be targets of military action. If some people are more interested in scoring political points than addressing that concern, that says more about them than it does about me.”

“Concern for Indian lives should unite us, not divide us,” he added.

Frankly, I find it extraordinary that a statement about protecting Indian civilian sailors is being twisted into a partisan political controversy.

Three Indians lost their lives. My remarks were about the safety of our citizens and the principle that civilian seafarers should…

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) June 20, 2026

The Khera-Tharoor exchange follows remarks the Thiruvananthapuram MP had made earlier this week.

“When it comes to Indian sailors, the prime minister rather forcefully made his point, both in public speech and, I understand, privately, that you have to understand that we have sailors in various ships. It was not an Indian ship, but even in other country-flagged vessels, there are lots of Indian crew and sailors. As long as they are civilians doing commercial shipping, they should not be treated like combatants in a war,” Tharoor had said to PTI.

The US had struck three commercial vessels earlier this month—Marivex, Settebello and Jalveer—after they allegedly failed to comply with US military directions and violated a US blockade of Iran’s ports.

The Centre said it was in touch with the US authorities and had conveyed its concerns over the strikes. India had also summoned US Charge d’Affaires Jason Meeks over the strike at the Palau-flagged Settebello in which three Indians died.

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‘Differences remain’

The strains between Tharoor and other Congress leaders have been evident earlier as well.

The MP, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, was earlier chosen by the Centre to lead a multi-party delegation abroad to explain India’s position on terrorism and Operation Sindoor last year, after Pakistan-linked terrorists opened fire at tourists in Pahalgam, killing 26.

During the outreach, some of Tharoor’s remarks praising the government’s diplomatic handling of the issue drew massive criticism from within the Congress and raised questions over his position within the party. He was also part of the G23, a group consisting of senior leaders within the party asking for reform and strengthening of internal democracy.

According to sources in the know, the Congress high command and Tharoor have met several times in the past few months to discuss the differences between the MP’s public statements on the Modi government’s foreign policy and the party’s official line.

However, those discussions have not yielded any breakthrough. “The issues have been discussed more than once, but the differences remain,” a senior party leader told ThePrint.

Another source said the “leadership has not been able to make up its mind on Tharoor’s case”.

Congress leaders have previously publicly distanced the party from Tharoor’s comments.

In May last year, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh clarified that Tharoor’s observations during the Centre’s diplomatic outreach following Operation Sindoor reflected his personal views and not the party’s official position.

“When Shashi Tharoor speaks, it is his opinion and it should not always be presumed to be the opinion of the Congress,” Ramesh had said.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)

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Also Read: ‘Defend sovereignty against bullies’—Congress tears into Modi govt over US ship strike killing 3 Indians

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