Calculating Political Allegiances Distressing: Congress’ Salman Khurshid Drops Big Tweet

New Delhi: Congress leader Salman Khurshid, part of an all-party delegation visiting various nations to present India's stance on its counter-terrorism operation Operation Sindoor following the Pahalgam terror attack, has expressed deep concern over the internal opposition within his party regarding all-party delegations sent abroad to rally global support against terrorism. 

In a post on X, Khurshid said, “When on mission against terrorism, to carry India’s message to the world, it’s distressing that people at home are calculating political allegiances. Is it so difficult to be patriotic?”

Congress’ Internal Rift Over Delegation Participation

While initially expressing support, the Congress later criticised the composition of the delegations, especially after four of its senior leaders, Shashi Tharoor, Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari, and Amar Singh were selected without formal party approval. 

Shashi Tharoor’s public endorsement of the government’s messaging led to him being called a “super spokesperson of the BJP” by party colleagues.

‘Congress Undermining National Interest’

Reacting to Khurshid’s statement, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya accused the Congress of playing communal politics and sacrificing national interest for political expediency. “It reflects the cost of a warped idea of secularism… Time and again, we have seen national interest sacrificed at the altar of political expediency,” Malviya said.

Congress Questions Operation Sindoor

The party also drew flak for repeatedly questioning India’s military losses during Operation Sindoor, a counter-terrorism mission to Pahalgam terror attack. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s remark “Our MPs are roaming and terrorists are also roaming” sparked backlash. 

Salman Khurshid’s Big Admission

Salman Khurshid’s post comes just days after he said, “Kashmir had a major problem for a long time. Much of that was reflected in the thinking of the government in an article called 370 of the Constitution, which somehow gave an impression that it was separate from the rest of the country.”

Khurshid further added, "But Article 370 was abrogated, bringing an end to that perception. Subsequently, elections were held, with a 65 per cent voter turnout, leading to an elected government in Kashmir today. Therefore, for people to want to undo everything that has happened, the prosperity that has come to Kashmir".

Speaking about their visit to Indonesia to put India’s stance forward on Operation Sindoor, Salman Khurshid and JD(U) MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, who is leading the delegation said that the Indonesian side has been favourable towards the Indian side.

"Let me just say this, that the tone and tenor and the general direction of the questions that were asked and the discussion that happened was very rewarding, very satisfying, and this is consistent with what we heard from the government officials that we met yesterday. We met the Deputy Foreign Minister yesterday, members of parliament. Broadly speaking, the tone and tenor were the same," Salman Khurshid said.

He further talked about the brainstorming sessions with the Indonesian officials saying the think tanks asked us a lot of questions related to the terrorist attack in Kashmir.

“But of course, these were think tanks where they ask a lot of questions. They asked about our attitude on various other things that are happening in the world and how that could possibly be linked with our main concern, which relates to the terrorist attack in Kashmir, but I thought that it was very positive. I thought it was very supportive," Salman Khurshid added.

Khurshid continued speaking that on the issue of terrorism, there has been outright and determined support but they are interested in knowing the way forward.

“They also talked about giving us some actionable points, actionable points about FATF, etc and how we could collaborate on the international level. All those things were discussed, I believe that this was a very, very positive, very supportive discussion," Salman Khurshid mentioned.