Manish Tewari channels Manoj Kumar
Congress MP Manish Tewari channels Manoj kumar to take a subtle swipe at his own party after he and fellow MP Shashi Tharoor were excluded from the list of speakers for the Parliament discussion on Operation Sindoor. Notably, both Tewari and Tharoor had been part of the government’s all-party delegations that travelled abroad to rally international support against Pakistan’s backing of terrorism in the wake of the operation.
In a cryptic post on X (formerly Twitter), Manish Tiwari posted few lines from Bharat Ka Rahnewala Hoon song sung by Mahendra Kapoor from the album Purab Aur Pachhim (1970).
In his post, the Anandpur Sahib MP shared a screenshot of a news report of him and Shashi Tharoor being snubbed for the Operation Sindoor debate, which kicked off on Monday.
“Hai preet jahaan ki reet sada
Main geet wahaan ke gaata hoon
Bharat ki baat sunata hoon“, the Congress MP posted.
According to a report in The Indian Express, Manish Tewari had expressed a clear interest in participating in the Operation Sindoor debate and had even written to the party leadership requesting to speak. Despite this, the Congress party chose not to include him among its designated speakers.
Congress MP Amar Singh, who was part of the delegation, was also not picked by the Congress to speak in the debate.
Shashi Tharoor Snubbed by Congress? Manish Tewari channels Manoj
Congress party officials in the know on Monday said the party had asked Shashi Tharoor if he was interested in speaking during the Operation Sindoor debate in Parliament but he declined and instead expressed a desire to speak on ‘The Indian Ports Bill, 2025’, reported news agency PTI.
There has been intense speculation on whether Shashi Tharoor, who led the Mission Sindoor delegation to the US among other countries, will be picked as a speaker by the Congress given that his enthusiastic endorsement of the Narendra Modi government’s action following the terror attack has soured his ties with the party.
Shashi Tharoor is understood to have conveyed to the party leadership that he had consistently described Operation Sindoor as a success during his international engagements and could not now contradict that position for the sake of political messaging.
When questioned by reporters on whether he would address Parliament on the matter, Shashi Tharoor took a subtle swipe at his party, remarking that he was currently observing a “maun vrat”—a vow of silence.
Operation Sindoor Debate in Parliament
The BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance and opposition parties are fielding their top guns for the Operation SIndoor debate in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
Opposition parties have framed their public criticism of the government around alleged intelligence lapses behind the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 civilians killed, and US President Donald Trump’s claims of mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly attacked the government’s foreign policy, claiming that India did not receive international support on Operation Sindoor and has cited Trump’s frequent mediation claims to target the ruling alliance. The government has rejected Trump’s claims.