By avoiding to take a stand on some issue we play into BJP’s hands: Shashi Tharoor

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has advocated that the party should articulate its stand in clear terms where issues concerning India’s pluralism are concerned. “We must have the courage of our convictions,” he said.

During a discussion on the political resolution at the Congress Plenary Session at Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Tharoor said: “We (the Congress party) should be absolutely clear in our ideological stance in favour of an inclusive India.”

Downplaying issues

“The tendency to downplay some positions or avoid taking a stand on some issue in order not to alienate what we assume to be the sentiments of the majority only plays into the hands of the BJP,” the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

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He listed some such issues where he said the party could have been more vocal: “We could have been more vocal on the Bilkis Bano outrage, attacks on Christian churches, murder in the name of cow vigilantism, bulldozer demolition of Muslim homes and similar issues.”

Core responsibility

Tharoor said that not doing so would mean that the Congress would have given up on its “core responsibility”.

“These are Indian citizens who look to us for support. If we do not speak out in such cases, we are giving up our core responsibility of standing up for India’s diversity and pluralism which should be central to the Congress’s message,” he said.