Is Shashi Tharoor Joining the BJP? The Political Signals Explained | Faye D'Souza

0:00 Is Shashi Tarur going to leave the Congress and join the BJP? It's an interesting political question and it's gotten more interesting over the last couple of weeks. So, we've got all the information together in this video and a sort of analysis of every possible scenario and why this would be a turning point for the BJP if they are in fact including Shashit Tarur in their party. Remember before we go further, some of the information from this video is actually sort of backroom information coming out of Delhi. Also remember to like, share, subscribe and sign up for our membership if you can to support us financially. You can also use the super chat feature. Now you'll remember after operation Synindhur Tar was part of the delegation representing the government of India traveling across the world putting forward India's point of view.

0:47 Was he representing government of India or was he representing the BJP and the prime minister? This is where there was a lot of criticism and he got a lot of criticism from his own party. they were jibes aimed at him by Congress leaders for taking his stand. He later also you know when he was heading those uh delegations a lot of them said that he was he was basically talking on behalf of the prime minister there was some confusion about the fact that the Congress party said we didn't put him forward we didn't recommend his name the BJP picked him uh Tarur said hey if you don't if you didn't recognize my talent so there was a lot of you know uh cold shouldering between the congress and tar before he started traveling and while he was traveling but the real eyebrow raise came from after he came back because he

1:32 wrote an article that was published in the Hindu on the 23rd of June in which he praised the prime minister. He heaped praise on the prime minister. He effectively said that the prime minister's energy dynamism and willingness to engage has remained a prime asset for India on the global stage but deserved better backing or greater backing. Now this u praise for the prime minister has come at a point when the congress party has been consistently criticizing the prime minister and his government over the foreign policy and saying that India's diplomacy is being shattered. This is the Congress's stand and the country stands isolated globally and at that point Shashitaru who's considered you know an expert on diplomacy and international affairs because of his

2:18 career with the UN is actually you know praising the prime minister for his foreign policy and that really led to a lot of you know irk in the Congress party at widening cracks between him and the leadership of the Congress party. Now Tarur said the diplomatic outreach following operation Sindur was a moment of national resolve and effective communication. After that the prime minister's office's Twitter handle so the PM's own Twitter handle shared the article and appreciated Tarur for his comments. Now when that article came out Malik Jun of the Congress party or two days later he was asked have you seen the article and he said I can't read English very well. Tarud's language is very good and that's why we've made him congress working committee uh member. I want to say people of the opposition together that they are with the army

3:05 that is fighting. We are with the country and that is paramount. We said country first party later but some people are saying Modi first country later what can we do about that? So that was actually if you consider K is the president of the Congress party that's sharp criticism coming from him. Um after that Tarud put out a tweet uh in which he said don't ask for permission to fly the wings are yours and the sky belongs to no one. Now this was in reference to Subanchu Shukla who is the astronaut currently in space but everybody started to see this as perhaps Tar's dig at the Congress party or a suggestion that he might fly if he chooses to. The question is will tar fly

3:50 right and what did that actually mean a day after that manikam tagor congresses whip at lok sabha actually said don't ask for permission to fly birds don't need clearance but you must watch the skies for hawks vultures and eagles who are always hunting and to drive home he shared a picture of hunters in the sky now to add fuel to fire tarur after that on the 29th of June in another debate he basically said that you know during During the adoption of the constitution, uh Golgar of the RSS had said that the constitution doesn't have enough manuspruti in it. But right now the RSS has moved away from those uh you know from those days and basically suggested that the RSS had become more modern. Again this made a lot of people in the

4:35 Congress sit up and say is he now speaking on behalf of the RSS on June 24. Now this is a really important thing right why is Tar so important? Tarun is important not just because he uh you know a lot he basically pulls a lot of good opinion from the urban uh middle class the English speaking audience people respect his opinion they respect his grace also Kerala and Kerala is a really important state because BJP wants to nicely open its account in Kerala it's trying really hard and Tarur has won uh the seat in Thirwanapuram repeatedly it's one that he holds for 16 years and uh it's something that's really interesting you know for the Congress to hold on to that but on the

5:21 24th of June the Congress actually wrestled the Namur assembly seat in Kerala making you know they won that bipole without any help from Shashit Tarur because Shashitur at one point was traveling and then when he came back he was not invited to come in campaign so he was not asked to campaign and they won nevertheless a bipole in you know in Kerala and this apparently from what I'm hearing has given the Congress party a certain amount of confidence that they don't really need him that with their local partner that they can continue to win and hold Kerala even if leaves now this is a big thing right so when um on the 19th of June when he was asked why he

6:07 didn't campaign for the bip poll he basically said I wasn't invited by the party but that's all Right. He said first of all I was gone for much of the time on the diplomatic mission and when I came back there was no missed call from the leadership saying that I should come and campaign but he did I must say come in and then um he chaired a committee of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs in Delhi. So he is taking part. He stated that Congress workers including people from his constituency in Thiruanandapuram have been working very hard in those campaigns. He said, "My close relations with the party have seen me through four elections in my own constituencies. Congress party workers have been by my side everywhere." So this could this have given the Congress party the confidence to say, "Hey, we don't really need him as much as we thought we did."

6:54 Because what I'm picking up again this is sort of a backroom conversation is that when Shashit Taru came back from his diplomatic mission apparently he requested a meeting with the Gandhi to sort of put forward his side and he hasn't gotten that appointment yet. Uh this is what the Delhi circles are saying. Now Tarur has also said when he was asked that there tends to be occasional differences between the party top brass and these issues will be resolved internally and he remains committed to the party um you know values. He said these can be sorted out in closed door conversations. I don't see any reason to discuss them. Now apart from that he is now being openly criticized by Congress people in his own state. Senior Congress leader K Murli Daran on the 24th of June basically uh

7:40 said that Taru's praise of the prime minister was disgusting and I'm quoting here he said he's a member of the working committee it's quite disgusting that a member of the working committee continues to praise a political opponent of the Congress but here's the interesting thing about Shashitaru he's not a traditional sort of leader where he's just you know held up the card for the Gandhi which is what the Congress leaders tend to be uh he's rebelled multiple times uh in opinion in in his stand and that's just the kind of person he is. Now I'll remind you in uh in February 2025 he actually hailed the LDF government's development initiatives uh following which the Congress high command summoned leaders to Delhi from Kerala and uh that caused a bit of a problem. He had also u

8:26 remember when the Ukraine Russia war had happened he criticized the prime minister initially saying you can't be on both sides and hug both sides but then later he said and I'm quoting I'm wiping egg off my face because I had criticized India's position but the policy of the prime minister who can hug both the president of Ukraine and the president in Moscow two weeks apart has been accepted and that he's also said that the prime minister's visit to the US was very good. So he has been actually praising the prime minister on various points. Remember 2020, this is a while ago. He was part of a group of 23 senior congress people who wrote to Sonia Gandhi saying that there are deep problems in the congress and there has to be a change after which there was an election for the Congress president and

9:12 Malik Kar was elected to be Congress president but Shashitu ran against him and at that time they raised a few eyebrows because Kar was obviously the Gandhi pick and he was going to win unanimously except that Taru decided to throw his hat in the ring. Now while Tarur seems to be warming up to the BJP and if you spend some time on Twitter you'll see or X you'll see that a lot of the traditional handles uh that criticize the Congress party and praise the BJP are currently praising Shashit Tarur and sharing his videos and he's going viral in these sort of circles. It seems like there's a case building for him and the days when um you know the prime minister referred to his wife as a 50 cr rupa girlfriend seems to have been

9:58 a thing of a past at this point. So let me now take a look at where this is possibly heading right um while he has said you know we are going to discuss this and this is not u you know something that is on the cards right now there doesn't seem to be any concrete plan that he's announced to join the BJP but analysts in Delhi like Nij Chri for example who has been tracking the Congress party since the days of Indra Gandhi has said that the Congress is definitely missing stepped when it came to Shashi Tarur because they should have recommended his name for um you know the uh delegation to begin with once his name came out they should have not dissed him in public like that and they

10:44 could have retained him quite well uh let's take a look at who he is right like I told you he's an intellectual he's often ideologically centrist uh he's been critical of the RSS but he's not a traditional congressman in the way that Congress party hardcore our leaders tend to be. Would he be valuable to the BJP? Here's an interesting question. So, the BJP tends to have more grassroot type of leaders who sound very close to people of the soil. But Tarun could be global facing. He could be he could bring in a certain intellectual credibility. He could bring in sophistication and polish that maybe uh will gain the BJP more credibility in urban educated circles especially

11:30 internationally. Uh he'd definitely be useful to the BJP in Kerala like I said um you know they don't have a face that specifically remember Kerala tends to have um a large Christian Kerala has a large Christian population has a large Muslim population. Tarur is popular with all groups in in Kerala and this could actually help the BJP and if a man like Tarur play you know praises uh the prime minister it tends to make the prime minister seem u more universally liked across all quarters and this could be a good thing for the BJP. Now why is the Congress struggling with Tarur? Uh like I said the Congress doesn't tolerate independent voices that well. Tarur is not a loyalist. He has rivalries in

12:17 Kerala that have become stronger. So for example, K Murida, Vidi, Satishan, they see him as sort of elitist and not really a ground worker. So they'd be happy to have him sort of move on and um there is there seems to be a fracture right now in the relationship between the Gandhis and Shashitar and that might be playing out as well. So will the BJP welcome him in in order to win a larger foothold in Kerala and is it possible? Um remember Sur Goby's recent win Lok Sabha win from Tishu will give the BJP some confidence in Kerala and we know that the BJP tends to have 20-year plans on each state and they work very hard before every state election or any Loka

13:02 election to sort of increase their uh presence in states where they're not present. So Bengal for example, Kerala for example, they're working very hard on. So Tur would be an interesting asset for them in that. Um so let's take a look at scenarios. Tarur stays in the Congress party. He uses his platform to comment on you know foreign policy, diplomacy, progressive responses. But is the Congress likely to warm up to him, welcome him back and sort of heal that problem? We don't know. Scenario number two, he joins the BJP and the BJP uses him symbolically globally and uses his statements to a claim intellectual support and b embarrass the Congress um and uh is that more likely to be uh something that will

13:49 happen? We've seen various leaders switch sides when we thought that they wouldn't but they have and the BJP has found a place for them in its ranks. So is Shashita likely to be that one? He's keeping his options open right now. uh he's sending signals of ideological independence saying hey I'm on the congress I I in the team I agree with them but I have my own ideas and thoughts u and he's becoming more and more a thorn in the congress's sight and a tool for the BJP in its optics war against the Gandhi so it'll be very interesting to see this playing out but from the last time we looked at this whole thing it does seem like the congress's relationship with shajitaru has fractured far more the question is is he likely to leave the congress and do nothing. I don't think so. Is he likely to leave the Congress and join

14:34 the BJP? And how will that play out? And where will the BJP find room for a man with his talents in their ranks? That's the interesting thing to watch out for. So, leave me a comment in the comment section if you think he's going to join the BJP. I think the first half of that question, is he leaving the Congress is becoming more and more obvious. Is he going to join the BJP? And if he does, how will they use him effectively? Let me know.