The Curious Case of Sashi Tharoor, M.P (From Manorama Online, by Sivaram Srikandath) The bio-data of Shashi Tharoor is an impressive one, by any standards. It reads like a dream run up for anyone aiming at a long innings in public life in India, or anywhere else in the world, for that matter. As his official bio-data reads, Tharoor straddles several worlds of experience. Born in London; schooled in Yercaud, Mumbai and Calcutta; undergraduate degree from the prestigious and well-connected St. Stephens College Delhi; Ph.D, at the young age of 22 from Tufts Fletcher School of Diplomacy; a nearly three decade long storied career at the United Nations where he served as peace keeper, refugee worker and administrator culminating in his tenure as United Nations Under Secretary General during Kofi Annans leadership of the organization; and prizes, honorary degrees and encomiums from a variety of institutions and organizations at the national and international level. In addition, a parallel career as a highly acclaimed and much feted author of several books of fiction and non-fiction ( his fifteenth book is scheduled for release in December 2014 ), and as an equally well regarded commentator who has published columns of substance and import in major newspapers and magazines across the globe. Truly a Renaissance man, Shashis interests span a wide range of subjects from politics to cricket to Bollywood to Human Rights to the use of Social Media as a means of political interaction. He is also a compelling and much-in-demand public orator who can speak fluently in English, French, Hindi and Malayalam. So, his entry into politics and public life in India seemed to be but a natural step in the progression of an illustrious career. And we Malayalees took pride in seeing the suave and dashing Tharoor rub shoulders with the glitterati, the chatterati and other assorted wogs in the corridors of power in New Delhi with an ease and familiarity that does not come comfortably to others of the khadi clad ilk from our neck of the woods. Here at last was a politician from Kerala who could speak just as well in chaste Malayalam to the voters of his constituency as he could deliver, in perfectly accented English, a veritable discourse on the arcane intricacies of International diplomacy to the graduates of an Ivy League University. It seemed that Kerala had finally found her son; someone who could voice the concerns and interests of the most literate state in India in a manner that commanded respect; and in a tone that brooked no quarter. It looked like the stars had aligned to deliver the world on a plate to the former Union Minister and our two-term MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. Shashi Tharoor. Unfortunately, as they say, even the best laid plans of mice and men have a habit of going awry. At first, Tharoor seemed to have a severe case of the dreaded foot-in-mouth disease, the undoing of many a public figure. A couple of immature utterances, a few injudicious tweets, and Shashi found that navigating the treacherous shoals of Indian politics was going to be far more difficult than sailing through the turbulent waters of International diplomacy. And then came his dalliance with (and later marriage to) the glamorous Sunanda Pushkar and the infamous IPL Gate controversy. Our honble Minister of State for External Affairs found himself with his back against the wall, literally flying on a wing and a prayer, and he resigned from his Ministry in April 2010. But, as they say, you cannot keep a good man down; and Shashi was re-inducted into the Union Cabinet in 2012 with the portfolio of Minister of State for HRD. This time around, he was more circumspect in his public utterances, and managed to serve out his term without serious controversy. Now, Tharoor seems to have landed in the dog house, yet again. This time around, it is his khadi-clad compatriots from Kerala who have created an unnecessary brouhaha over the Thiruvananthapuram MPs apparent Modi chalisa. Angered by Tharoors acceptance of Prime Minister Narendra Modis invitation to him to be the brand ambassador of the SWACHH BHARATH ABHIYAAN campaign, a group of senior Congress leaders from Kerala, including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, KPCC President V.M. Sudheeran and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala have lashed out against the hapless MP for succumbing to the opulence and power in the BJPs fold as articulated emotionally in an editorial in the party mouthpiece organ, Veekshanam. Poor Tharoor. Here, he thought, he was offering support to a genuinely good cause. A cause that was in the national interest. A cause that would have found favor with the Father of the Nation. A cause that should, ideally, receive support across the political divide. Ooh ! You are politically so naive, Shashi. This is India, and not the U.S. where it not uncommon for the Republicans and the Democrats to rally around the President, their Commander-in-Chief, in a show of bipartisan solidarity. This is India, where the merit of an idea is not half as important as to where the idea came from. This is India, where parochial political activism takes precedence over rallying around the flag for a good cause. This is India where national interests are sacrificed for political expediency. And far more importantly, this is Kerala, where five khadi-clad politicians getting together means four groups and a multitude of conflicting opinions; where politics has sadly degenerated into tawdry ego conflicts and sordid horse-trading; where if you are not like one of us, there surely must be something wrong with you. And finally a state where it is okay to welcome into the Congress fold the CPM black sheep A.P. Abdullakutty who was expelled b y the Comrades from their party for having committed the original sin of praising Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, for his developmental politics, but it is definitely not kosher for a sitting Congress MP to applaud Modi the Prime Minister for his visionary and pragmatic leadership. Bah ! Men of khadi indeed. More like men of straw really. And then we wonder, why Kerala is in such a sorry mess. R.I.P Kerala !
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 15:07:47 +0000
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