Constitution ‘sacrosanct’ to PM Modi: Shashi Tharoor’s statement sets political chatter ablaze

Responding to a question at the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode, Tharoor spoke at length about the resilience of the Constitution, which has survived successive governments — including the present regime, “whose philosophical forebears in the RSS had explicitly rejected the Constitution.”

In his response, Tharoor recalled Modi’s remarks describing the Constitution as his “only holy book,” highlighting what he said was the document’s enduring authority.

“In 2014, when the BJP came to power, there was a lot of talk that they would scrap the Constitution and bring in a new one. It was even reported that an RSS ideologue was drafting a new Constitution. Yet Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Constitution was his holy book,” Tharoor said, referring to Modi’s address to a joint sitting of the US Congress.

“As I point out, that’s not strictly accurate — it is the Bhagavad Gita that he gives to visiting heads of state — but the message was clear: that is how he sees the Constitution, as sacrosanct. The result is that even those who once rejected the Constitution have now embraced it,” he added.

Tharoor said the Constitution’s survival despite political shifts demonstrated its inherent strength. “We have a Constitution that has stood the test of time, the succession of governments of different political parties, and even the ascent to power of a party whose philosophical forebears had rejected it — and yet the Constitution has survived,” he said.

Addressing speculation over his alleged distance from the Congress, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said he has had a “public disagreement” with the party on only one issue — Operation Sindoor.

“I have at no stage violated the party’s positions in Parliament. The only issue on which there has been a public disagreement on principle is Operation Sindoor, where I took a very strong stand and remain unapologetic about it,” Tharoor said.

Referring to his column written after the Pahalgam incident, Tharoor said, “I wrote that this could not go unpunished and that there had to be a kinetic response.”

Tharoor, who later led a government outreach delegation as part of India’s diplomatic effort on Operation Sindoor, had also differed with the Congress over the ceasefire with Pakistan, which the party criticised.

He further took a stand distinct from the Congress during a social media campaign invoking former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s leadership during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War to criticise the Modi government following the ceasefire agreement with Pakistan.

Tharoor emphasised that “the circumstances in 1971 and 2025 are not the same.”

“We have suffered a lot — ask the people of Poonch how many have died. This was not a war we intended to continue. We wanted to teach terrorists a lesson, and that lesson has been taught,” he said in comments to ANI.

As an Indian, Tharoor said the 1971 victory makes him proud and called it a “great achievement,” while stressing the different objectives of the two conflicts.

“In 1971, India was fighting a moral cause to liberate people. In 2025, the aim was to teach terrorists harboured by Pakistan a lesson and dismantle terror hubs,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s military capabilities and the potential damage today are vastly different from those in the past.