THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In what could be an indication of the likely political backlash after his terror remark on Hamas, MP Shashi Tharoor was dropped from a major Palestine solidarity meet scheduled in the state capital. The Mahal Empowerment Mission (MEM), a major body of Muslim community, consisting of 32 jamaats in the city corporation, has decided to drop Tharoor from the event, post his remark on ‘terrorist attack’ at the Muslim League rally in Kozhikode on Thursday.
The MEM held an online meeting on Friday and decided to drop Tharoor from the meet, scheduled to be held at Palayam Martyr’s Square on Monday at 4:30 pm. The decision has been conveyed to Tharoor’s office, said MEM secretary Shahjahan Sreekaryam. As per the earlier programme, the event was to be inaugurated by Shashi Tharoor with CPM politburo member M A Baby delivering the keynote address.
“Shashi Tharoor is a knowledgeable leader, known across the globe. When he made such a remark, it shattered our expectations. Despite all the controversy over his remark and protests from various corners, Tharoor hasn’t withdrawn his statement or issued a correction. Instead, he justified his statement.
That’s why we decided to drop him from the meeting,” said Shahjahan. An online meeting of MEM would soon finalise the leader to replace Tharoor at the Palestine solidarity meet.
With a major community outfit openly coming out against Tharoor, the remark is likely to have political implications, especially in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Shashi Tharoor clarifies remarks on Hamas, but onslaught continues
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, whose remarks on Hamas at the IUML Palestine Solidarity Rally organised by the IUML evoked strong reactions, remains on a sticky wicket even after he offered a clarification on the issue on Friday. Many organisations lashed out at Tharoor for branding Hamas as a terrorist outfit while the official leadership of the IUML was more guarded in its response.
Nazar Faizy Koodathayi, secretary of the Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS) said the ‘world citizen’ should know that those who were present on the stage do not subscribe to the view that Hamas was a terror organisation.
He congratulated Dr M K Muneer for correcting Tharoor on the stage itself. Faizy is a Samastha leader who is known to be close to the IUML leadership, of late.
K T Jaleel, MLA, even went to the extent of saying that Tharoor’s presence at the meeting had converted the event into a pro-Israeli programme.
He asked why the IUML invited Tharoor who is known for his pro-Israeli stand. The party could have invited persons such as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
In his response to the controversy on Friday, Tharoor asserted that he stands with the people of Palestine. “Nobody who listened to my speech would say that it was pro-Israel,” he said, adding that taking one sentence from the speech and making it a controversy is unacceptable.
IUML national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty chose to downplay the issue, saying that the rally had gained the aim of getting international attention.
Tharoor himself has said that he is with Palestine, he said. Kunhalikutty said there is a concerted move to defeat the Palestinian cause by raking up unnecessary controversies.
Surprisingly, the CPM leadership also is not very enthused by the controversy. The party state secretary M V Govindan said any attempt to form an alliance in solidarity with Palestine should be seen as a movement against imperialism.
The BJP’s response, however, was on the expected line. Former MP Suresh Gopi said what Tharoor said about Hamas was correct. Tharoor is a person who usually expresses his opinion after studying all aspects of the issue, he said.
‘Congress has just one stand on conflict’
Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan said Shashi Tharoor had given a clarification. “Congress’ official stand is that Palestine should have an independent existence. Congress condemns Israel’s cruel attack against Palestinians. The party has only one stand in connection with this,” he said.