INDIAN National Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor on Friday (6) came up with a tweet after prime minister Narendra Modi praised PR Sreejesh, the goalkeeper of the Indian men’s hockey team that won bronze at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
On Thursday (5), Modi tweeted. “Spectacular performance throughout the tournament and even in the last few seconds. Bravo @16Sreejesh! Your saves played a big part in earning the medal for India. Congratulations and best wishes to you.”
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A day later, Tharoor, who represents Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern state of Kerala in the parliament, responded to Modi saying in a tweet, “The Prime Minister’s praise for @16Sreejesh has gladdened the heart of every Keralite. It’s a reminder that he who protects the country’s interests from attack and shields it from vulnerabilities is as important as he who takes the offensive and scores goals against others....”
Sreejesh, it can be mentioned here, is from Ernakulam in Kerala.
PR Sreejesh (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)
While one would wonder whether Tharoor showered a big praise on Modi at a time when his party is putting up a strong protest against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over issues like the Pegasus snooping row in which several opposition politicians and journalists in the country have allegedly been targeted, the master vocabularist put out a tweet that can be interpreted in as many ways as one wants.
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Tharoor’s tweet apparently looked like a praise for the role goalkeepers play in a game for the country but by mentioning the words ‘national interests’, did Tharoor take a dig at Modi over his government’s China policy?
Tharoor, a former diplomat at the United Nations who has also served as a minister of state for external affairs in the former Congress-led United Progressive Alliance at the Centre, has been one of the most vocal critics of Modi on foreign affairs.
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