Oh, look! The Congress Times (also known as Hindustan Times for those who still believe in journalistic neutrality) has unleashed yet another masterpiece from its resident Congress Defence League Captain, Karan Thapar (Congress party and its Tharoor dilemma). This time, he graces us with “Congress Party and Its Tharoor Dilemma,” a breathless attempt to turn a routine Congress soap opera into high political drama. Spoiler alert: It’s neither profound nor insightful—just another episode of the same old Gandhi Parivar Ki Kahani.
Thapar, ever the loyalist, begins his saga with a near-poetic adoration of Shashi Tharoor. According to him, Tharoor is the outlier—the misunderstood intellectual who doesn’t play the usual Congress “cabals and coteries” game. Instead, he supposedly operates on “talent and skills,” as if Indian politics were some elite meritocracy. One can almost hear the violins swelling in the background as Thapar waxes lyrical about Tharoor’s victimhood. Meanwhile, in the real world, Congress’ reliance on sycophancy is about as surprising as Delhi’s traffic jams.
Thapar’s Stunningly Obvious “Insights”
The Congress Defence League Captain then attempts a deep dive into the profound question: Why is the Congress unsure about Tharoor? Ah yes, the great mystery of our time! Could it be that Tharoor is too talented for the Congress to handle? Or maybe, just maybe, the party doesn’t trust a man who moonlights as a Modi sympathizer whenever it suits him? But Thapar won’t entertain that thought. Instead, he tries to frame this as some sort of ideological struggle between Tharoor’s modernist, cosmopolitan appeal and the Congress’ outdated feudal structure.
His three “germane” questions (a term he likely picked to sound profound) are, in reality, as predictable as a Rahul Gandhi vacation.
Is the Congress afraid that Tharoor’s talent will overshadow Rahul Gandhi? Oh dear, how will poor Rahul survive in Tharoor’s towering intellectual shadow? Thapar plays the innocent observer here, pretending that he’s stumbled upon a shocking truth—when in fact, the entire nation has known for years that Congress operates like a family-run grocery store, where outsiders are welcome to do errands but never to sit behind the cash register.
Does Congress not know how to utilize Tharoor’s skills? No, Karan, the real question is: Does Congress even know how to utilize anything other than dynasty politics? You don’t need a PhD in political science to see that Tharoor is tolerated, not embraced, because his brand of English-lecture politics doesn’t exactly win votes outside of literary festivals. But, of course, Thapar chooses to paint the party as an organization that is merely “confused” rather than structurally incapable of handling a leader who doesn’t chant Jai Gandhi five times a day.
Is Congress jealous of Tharoor’s social media clout? This is perhaps the funniest part of the article. If Twitter/X followers equaled electoral success, then Congress’ IT cell would have made Rahul Gandhi PM five times over by now. Thapar assumes that the Congress high command spends its days scrolling through Tharoor’s social media pages, seething with envy. In reality, they likely find his intellectual posturing amusing at best and irrelevant at worst.
The Real “Dilemma”
At its core, Thapar’s article isn’t about Tharoor at all. It’s about crafting a narrative where the Congress party, despite all its apparent flaws, still deserves a chance—because hey, at least it tolerates someone like Tharoor. It’s the same tired routine: present an internal Congress issue as an intellectual debate, subtly remind readers that the party is still the “broad tent” of Indian politics, and, most importantly, make sure the Gandhis never look too bad.
Thapar desperately wants us to believe that this Tharoor episode is a moment of existential reflection for the Congress. In reality, it’s just another instance of an old, crumbling party failing to evolve. The Congress doesn’t have a Tharoor dilemma—it has a relevance dilemma. No amount of Thapar’s prose can change that.
So, well played, Congress Times. You’ve once again published an article that is both overwritten and underwhelming. Maybe next time, let Thapar interview someone who will call out his rakshak mode in real time. That would be worth reading.
Author : Sandeep Gandotra, is a serial entrepreneur, startup founder, social media influencer and political analyst with 25 years of overall experience. Tweets at Sandeep Gandotra
