Overview
- Speaking at an Amrita News event in Dubai, Shashi Tharoor said politics that demands ideological purity prevents problem-solving and asked how states can get anything done without cooperating with the Centre.
- He defended his detailed X post on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Ramnath Goenka Lecture as a neutral summary, describing the address as an economic outlook and cultural call to action while insisting he offered no praise.
- He argued states should work with the central government to secure resources, saying he would accept conditional funds for Kerala while implementing them within his convictions.
- He pointed to a recent instance in Kerala where rejecting a central scheme led to denied money for government schools, calling the decision unreasonable since it involves taxpayers’ funds.
- Congress leaders Sandeep Dikshit and Supriya Shrinate criticized his stance, as Tharoor also highlighted the Trump–Zohran Mamdani meeting as an example of post-election cooperation.