In an interview with Al Jazeera’s show, ‘UpFront’, Shashi Tharoor discussed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the proposed beef ban, and the controversial investigation into the death of his late wife, Sunanda Pushkar.
Reacting to the Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri lynching incident, where a Muslim man killed for allegedly consuming beef, Tharoor said that he was opposed to a ban on beef and that he disagreed with senior Congress Party leader Digvijaya Singh, who has said in recent days that the opposition would back a BJP ban on cow slaughter.
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“I must say that was a statement by one Congress leader,” Tharoor told ‘UpFront’. “My argument has throughout been that what you or I chose to eat is our intimate personal decision and it’s nobody else’s business what we do. I happen to be vegetarian but I have absolutely no problem with anybody in my home consuming anything they want.”
Tharoor, also took aim at Prime Minister Modi’s silence over the recent lynching and other similar controversies. He stated, “I believe the Prime Minister, through his silence, has condoned some outrageous statements and ideas by his ministers… and I believe that he, while he himself has so far not said the wrong thing, his silence, too, is tantamount to not saying the right thing and that’s something [for which] as a Prime Minister, he can be held accountable.”
However, on the subject of the 2002 Gujarat massacres, and Modi’s alleged involvement, Tharoor defended the prime minister. “He hasn’t been convicted by any court…[and] he has won an enormous mandate from the Indian electorate and that, in every democracy, is a kind of absolution as well.”
“So I’d rather focus on Mr. Modi, the prime minister, what he’s doing today, what he could do tomorrow. Rather than worry about the past.”
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When asked if he would ever accept a position in a BJP-led government, if such a position were offered to him by Prime Minister Modi, the former Congress Party spokesman said, “Well, he wouldn’t and I wouldn’t accept.”
Referring to the press coverage of Sunanda Pushkar’s death, Tharoor described the claim that his late wife was murdered as “impossible”, adding that “I mean, no one has given a convincing reason for believing it.”
Tharoor explained by saying, “I don’t believe anyone would have any reason to murder my wife. I don’t believe there was a murder.”
“If there had been any evidence it would have emerged by now and we would have seen some progress in this matter.”
Tharoor described the investigation as “rather protracted” and based on “speculation”.