Tharoor takes venom out of Cong attack on Jaitley

The attack by Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma on the remarks made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on protesting writers petered out as his party colleague took a contrarian view on the issue. This is not the first time that the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram has taken a stand which has embarrassed his party.

Earlier in the day, a war of words broke out between the Congress and the BJP over writers returning their Sahitya Akademi awards. The Congress on Thursday hit out at finance minister Arun Jaitley for calling the protests by writers a manufactured revolt, saying his remark was “cynical and perverse.”

“He is targeting eminent citizens of India who have made notable contributions for which they are celebrated nationally and globally. These writers believe in the constitution, and in freedom of expression,” said Congress leader Anand Sharma at a press conference.

Sharma’s attack comes a day after Jaitley wrote in his blog that “recipients of past patronage from the Congress and Left were resorting to politics by other means”.

Meanwhile speaking in a tone different from his party, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor while accepting that writers have every right to stand up for their freedom of expression but returning the awards amounted to “dishonouring” the recognition. “Personally, I regret the fact that a section of writers <g data-gr-id="34">have</g> returned the Akademi awards. <g data-gr-id="33">Award</g> is a recognition of intellectual, literary, creative or academic merits. It is not a political act,” said Tharoor.

“Sahitya Akademi is actually an independent institution, and the concerns we have <g data-gr-id="38">are</g> political ones. For writers, I think there is no need to confuse these two. One should oppose the present climate ... one should stand up for freedom but one should not dishonour the award,” he said.

This is not the first time that Tharoor has taken a line independent of his party vis-à-vis their views on the ruling BJP. This had even invited <g data-gr-id="29">ire</g> of Congress president Sonia Gandhi who expressed her angst to the former minister in full public view.