The Congress may be celebrating a bypoll victory in Kerala’s Palakkad constituency, but beneath the surface, the party is in deep and irreparable turmoil. One electoral win does not hide the festering crisis within, especially when one of the party’s most articulate, internationally admired, and electorally viable leaders—Shashi Tharoor—is showing all signs of drifting away. If Tharoor, one of the few faces in the Congress with genuine mass appeal beyond sycophancy, chooses to walk out, it won’t just be another exit. It would be symbolic of the collapse of the party’s intellectual and moral center.
While Tharoor has not officially declared any intent to quit the Congress, his recent remarks and behaviour have set the political grapevine abuzz. His unusually warm praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, particularly after the Lok Sabha results, raised eyebrows in Lutyens Delhi. “The people of India have voted, and we must respect their verdict. Narendra Modi has shown he has the popular mandate. That must be acknowledged,” Tharoor said—words that many in the Congress see as political blasphemy. Not stopping there, he even complimented Modi’s conduct during the campaign, saying, “There was civility and dignity in the PM’s approach, and that’s good for democracy.” Coming from a Congress MP, this was nothing short of a bombshell.
The party’s reaction was predictably petulant. Spokespersons like Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera couldn’t hide their irritation. Instead of introspecting on why a senior leader like Tharoor would step out of the party line, they resorted to passive-aggressive jabs and innuendo. Some even hinted that Tharoor was “soft on the BJP,” a code word used within the party to question loyalty when someone doesn’t toe the dynastic script. This speaks volumes of the Congress’s deeper malaise: its intolerance of dissent and intellectual independence.
Tharoor, an Oxford-educated diplomat and former UN Under-Secretary General, joined politics in 2009 with a wave of hope and reformist energy. He brought with him credibility, class, and competence—qualities that were supposed to be assets to the Congress. But over the years, he found himself sidelined, often attacked from within, especially by the old guard and dynasty loyalists who saw independent thinking as a threat. The party used Tharoor’s eloquence and global stature when convenient, but never allowed him serious influence in shaping policy or strategy.
The breaking point may well have been his inclusion by the Modi government as part of an all-party outreach panel formed after the brutal terror killings of tourists in Pahalgam. Tharoor, along with another Congress stalwart Manish Tewari, didn’t play partisan games. Instead, they projected India’s resolve against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism with dignity, skill, and diplomacy—exactly what India needed at the global stage. Ironically, instead of being appreciated by their party for standing by the nation, they were vilified. That shows just how far the Congress has sunk in its obsession with Modi-hatred.
What is deeply disturbing is the Congress’s growing list of self-inflicted losses. It is not just about old warhorses like Ghulam Nabi Azad or Kapil Sibal, who walked out with their heads held high. The party has also lost a generation of young talent—Jyotiraditya Scindia, Himanta Biswa Sarma, R.P.N. Singh, and Jitin Prasada—leaders who were once touted as the Congress’s future. If Tharoor joins that list, it could be a death knell for the Congress’s urban, aspirational support base. He is, after all, a cult figure among Kerala’s middle class, young professionals, and diaspora voters. His departure will send a signal that Congress is no longer a party that values intellect, merit, or independent thinking.
It’s not that Shashi Tharoor is itching to join the BJP. He remains ideologically distinct and intellectually independent. But unlike the blind loyalists crowding today’s Congress, Tharoor refuses to play pawn in a dynastic circus. His willingness to praise a political rival when credit is due reflects maturity, not betrayal — a rare quality once embodied by towering statesmen like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and P.V. Narasimha Rao, both of whom led India with dignity and depth. That ability to rise above party lines in service of national interest is what separates a true leader from a mere lackey.
The Congress needs to realize that retaining leaders like Tharoor is not just a question of electoral arithmetic, but one of credibility. If a man who once campaigned for the soul of India now finds himself alienated within the very party that claims to uphold democratic liberalism, then perhaps the soul of the Congress is already lost.
The clock is ticking. Either the Congress reforms and values its few remaining intellectual assets, or it prepares to lose them one by one. And if Shashi Tharoor does decide to jump ship, it will not be a betrayal of the Congress. It will be a damning indictment of what the party has become.
