'Which is your first loyalty? To my mind, nation comes first': Shashi Tharoor on discord with Congress

Speaking at an event in Kochi, the Thiruvananthapuram MP was asked about his uneasy relationship with his party by a high school student.

"While I have been steering clear of such political discussions in public, I felt a student deserved a response," Tharoor posted on X, sharing a video of his remarks.

"Politics is, unfortunately or otherwise, in any democracy, it's about competition. And as a result, when people like me say that we respect our parties, we have certain values and convictions that keep us in our parties, but we need to cooperate with other parties in the interest of national security -- the question you asked -- sometimes the parties feel that is disloyal to them. And that becomes a big problem," the Congress leader said, referring to his party leaders' remarks targeting him.

"Which is your first loyalty? To my mind, the nation comes first. Parties are a means of making the nation better. So to my mind, whichever party you belong to, the objective of that party is to create a better India in its own way," he said.

He said every party has the right to disagree about the best way of making a better India.

"Some of us may say, let's say, more capitalism. Some may say more socialism. Some may be in favour of certain kinds of regulatory controls. Some may be against too much regulation. So you have different points of view. That's fine. But ultimately, we must all be committed to a better India, a safer India, an India whose borders are protected, whose territory is safe, whose people's well-being can be nurtured. And that is my commitment," Tharoor said.

"And if we hold that ideal up, that kind of spirit should cross all parties, not just bipartisan but multi-partisan. You asked about Parliament. In our Parliament today, there are 46 political parties. There must be some issues in which they all unite. That's certainly my passionate conviction. But it's not easy," he added.

Shashi Tharoor, who has had differences of opinion with party colleagues of late, earlier said he has been loyal to the Congress for the last 16 years and that disagreements can be sorted "behind closed doors" with the people concerned.

The Centre's move to pick Shashi Tharoor to lead an outreach delegation to the US did not go well with his party, especially his praises about Prime Minister Narendra Modi on handling the Pahalgam terror attack and then Operation Sindoor have pissed off a section of Congress leaders.