Present leadership has forgotten key lesson of inclusivity: Shashi Tharoor

PTI, Nov 18, 2021, 8:45 AM IST

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday criticised the BJP government for having ”forgotten the key lesson of inclusivity”.

Speaking at the launch of his book, ‘Pride, Prejudice, and Punditry’, Tharoor said that it was a flaw of the parliamentary system that ”creates opportunity for those who are divisive”.

”One thing that I will say about the present leadership is that it’s forgotten the key lesson of inclusivity. I think ultimately once you become the head of the government or you become the government of a country you have to represent all the people and not only your narrow political interests,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.

He added that ”you are not doing good by the country” if the five years or longer in power are spent in the ”relentless pursuit” of a particular ideology. ”If you come with a particular ideology and you are spending five years or longer in just a relentless pursuit of that ideology you are not doing good by the country. That’s another flaw I think is in the system.

”But the system we have, has created an opportunity for those who are, in fact, not inclusive, who are divisive in pursuit of their party’s politics to be the incharge of the machinery of the government of the country. I think that’s the most unfortunate,” Tharoor said.

Published by Aleph Books and launched under the ‘Kitaab’ initiative of Prabha Khetan Foundation, Tharoor’s latest book brings together fiction, non-fiction, and poetry from his published books and journalism, as well as many newly written pieces.