New Delhi: Amid the controversy over the hijab ban in Karnataka, the Indian embassy in Kuwait has slammed Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for retweeting what it said was an “anti-India tweet” by a “Pakistani agent”, and asserted that such anti-India elements should not be encouraged.
Hitting out at Tharoor, the Indian Embassy in Kuwait, from its official Twitter handle, said, “Sad to see an Hon’ble Member of Indian Parliament retweeting an anti-India tweet by a Pakistani agent who was recipient of a Pakistani Award ‘Ambassador of Peace’ for his anti-India activities. We should not encourage such anti-India elements.”
The sharp response from the Indian Embassy in Kuwait came after Tharoor retweeted a tweet which claimed that a group of “powerful” Kuwaiti parliamentarians had demanded the government of Kuwait to put an immediate ban on the entry of any member of the ruling BJP of India into Kuwait.
“We can’t sit back and watch Muslim girls being publicly persecuted they said. Time for the Ummah to unite,” the tweet further said.
Referring to the said tweet, Tharoor then wrote on Twitter, “Domestic actions have international repercussions. I hear from friends across the Gulf of their dismay at rising Islamophobia in India & the PM’s unwillingness to condemn it, let alone act decisively against it. ‘We like India. But don’t make it so hard for us to be your friends’.”
The Indian Embassy in Kuwait soon hit back at Tharoor, saying “such anti-India elements should not be encouraged”.
Responding to criticism against him, Tharoor in his defence said that though he doesn’t endorse the person whose tweet he had retweeted, but said he is “concerned about the sentiment he conveys”. Taking to Twitter, Tharoor wrote:
(With PTI inputs)