THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress politics in Kerala has once again started revolving around Shashi Tharoor after the Nair Service Society, the lead organisation of the influential Nair community in the state, endorsed the Thiruvananthapuram MP’s potential to occupy the highest office in the country.
“Tharoor is capable of even becoming the prime minister of the country,” NSS General Secretary G Sukumaran Nair told this newspaper in an interview as part of the Express Dialogues series. However, Nair was sceptical about the prospects of such a development as he believes other Congress leaders would scuttle any such move. “His (Tharoor’s party) colleagues will not let it happen,” he said.
The NSS general secretary, who had once dubbed Tharoor as “Delhi Nair”, made amends for his earlier jibe by lavishly praising the Congress leader. “Tharoor is a tharavadi (aristocrat) Nair. He is a global citizen. We hoped to get a glimpse of his vast knowledge and brilliance. Moreover, he is someone who blurs political boundaries,” he said.
Nair’s description of Tharoor as “aristocrat Nair” has sparked a debate whether the NSS chief still thinks only people belonging to the nobility are eligible to run the government. Trolls on the subject are doing rounds on social media, and the issue figures prominently in channel discussions.
Nair’s accolades for Tharoor came a couple of days after the NSS invited the senior Congress leader to inaugurate the prestigious Mannam Jayanthi celebrations. Tharoor was only the third political leader to be bestowed the honour in its long history. Tharoor, who contested against the Gandhi family-backed Mallikarjun Kharge in the Congress presidential election and bagged 11.42% of the votes, is passing
through a critical phase in his political career.