Jaipur Literature Festival: Shashi Tharoor walks the tightrope on Modi

JAIPUR: Former Union minister Shashi Tharoor's statements praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi have raked up controversies in the past but on Friday, he attempted a balancing act criticizing Modi's "silence" over contentious remarks made by his ministers while also saying Modi had introduced "the politics of performance".
Tharoor said this during a discussion with Mihir Sharma, author of 'Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy' in a session named after Tharoor's latest book 'India Shastra' at the Jaipur Literature Festival.The two authors discussed governance and development, both drawing the conclusion that a lot needed to be done and that the next budget would be a litmus test for the Modi government.
"It would be interesting to see what they (NDA) come up with. Hopefully, the budget would be a game changing one and not a name changing one like the last one turned out to be," said Tharoor.
"Though Modi has brought in a shift to politics of performance from the politics of identity, he has a long way to go in terms of delivering what he promised in his speeches," the former minister added.
"Modi might want reforms but he has to learn to deal with fundamental contradictions. He better realise that his ministers do not understand the reforms he wants to bring. Rather, they are pushing these away by their controversial statements," said Tharoor, adding that Modi has to show his disapproval and not remain silent like he has chosen to be.
"His rise to office has empowered the khaki shorts wearing cultural organisation of the RSS, whose views on every subject, be it economics, politics, history, culture, morality, gender reality and even matter of dressing and conduct are totally illiberal," he said, while commenting on saffron brigade's so-called 'ghar wapsi' programme and 'love jihad'.
Tharoor had upset his party when he had supported Modi's "Swachh Bharat" campaign, but while talking about the initiative he had said "such campaigns shouldn't merely become photo opportunities". He was pulled up by the Congress leadership for praising Modi's UN speech in October last year.