In a strong critique of India’s stand on the Ukraine crisis, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said that India’s position consists of “a whole series of inconsistencies”. He said that “India’s position is often confusing,” adding it’s at times contradictory and even seems like “arrant hypocrisy”.
In a 27-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Tharoor, a former minister of state for external affairs and a former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, and presently a three-term Congress MP and a former chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs, said that India has “never condemned Russia”, adding it has “never used the word invasion or war”.
Tharoor told The Wire that India began with “a mealy-mouthed” stand at the UN. Initially, he said that India was not even willing to cite the principles its foreign policy has stood by for seven decades. Since then, i.e. more recently, India has begun to state its principles, such as respect for the UN charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, but is still unable to name Russia which is in blatant breach of these principles.
The senior Congress leader extensively commented upon the inconsistencies, including contradictions and hypocrisy, in several recent statements made by the prime minister.
Two statements were made at the recent G7 meeting in Japan, including one directly to President Zelensky. An earlier statement was made in September in Uzbekistan when the prime minister told Russian President Putin “this is not an era of war”. The fourth statement was made in October, when the prime minister told President Zelensky on the phone that there could be no military solution to the Ukraine crisis.
Tharoor commented on each of these statements. In each case, he’s critical either of what the prime minister left unsaid or what the statement by the prime minister implied.
He also explained why the inconsistencies and confusion he’s talking about is being deliberately ignored by the Western countries that support Ukraine.
He explained why the Congress party has maintained an almost complete silence on the Ukraine issue. While Tharoor has spoken critically of the government in his interviews and in parliament, his party has nothing to say on this matter. He also explained the reasons behind Congress’s silence on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He also answered why the media is silent about the inconsistencies and contradictions in India’s Ukraine policy.
He even attempted to explain why the prime minister’s statements or the government’s position is so weak, confusing and contradictory. But this explanation is Tharoor’s own concoction, if that’s the right word. It’s not an explanation given by any official to him.
