Senior Congress leader and three-time MP, Shashi Tharoor, has confirmed that he will attend the Congress rally in support of Palestine scheduled for Friday at Kozhikode.
There have been a spate of speculations on whether the Congress Working Committee (CWC) member would participate in the party's rally, in the backdrop of his comments about Hamas at a similar rally organised by Muslim League which is a key ally of Congress in the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF).
A resounding success as the League's October 26 rally was, its lustre got dimmed with Dr Tharoor's reference to the attack of Hamas of Oct 7, calling the outfit terrorists and the attack as terrorist attack, albeit together with calling out Israel's 'disproportionate' military response.
For its part, the Muslim League does not subscribe to seeing Hamas as terrorists, let alone the party's rank and file wouldn't brook a guest speaker at the party's event calling Palestine's resistance movement as a terrorist outfit. The League leadership had drawn enough flak from friends and foes alike for its decision to invite Tharoor. While the friends reproached it for having created such an embarrassment at an otherwise impressive rally by inviting a person of such opinions, Congress' opponents, especially the ruling CPI-M,used it to intensify their criticism that the Congress is against Palestinians and were pro-Israeli.
The League leadership was at pains to do some real explaining for inviting a man alleged to be holding such views. They had invited him as the keynote speaker to get international coverage the former UN undersecretary could garner, given his standing in diplomatic circles and his own grasp of the subject of Israel and Palestine.
In the midst of speculations whether Tharoor would attend the Nov 24 Congress rally, at one point he had expressed doubts about his availability in view of an important wedding in the family. But now that the Congress has invited him, it appears that the wedding would not stand in the way of his attendance. He has said that KPCC President K Sudhakaran invited him for the event, and in fact his non-participation would create more controversy.
The rally will be launched by Congress national general secretary KC Venugopal. Muslim League leaders including state president Panakkad Syed Sadikali Shibab Thangal, general secretary PK Kunhalikutty and ET Mohammed Basheer, MP are also scheduled to participate.