Congress slams Tharoor over remarks on LDF government and Kerala’s entrepreneurial growth

The Congress party’s Kerala mouthpiece, Veekshanam Daily, has indirectly criticised senior leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor for his recent comments on the state's startup growth under the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.

Without explicitly naming Tharoor, the editorial urged party leaders to remain aligned with the expectations of thousands of Congress workers, particularly in the lead-up to the local body elections.

The editorial, published on Monday, described the prevailing political climate in Kerala as one marked by strong anti-incumbency. It warned that any attempt to downplay this sentiment - especially by individuals who had once contributed to fueling it - was politically misguided.

The controversy erupted after Tharoor, in an article published in an English daily, praised Kerala’s progress in the startup and innovation sectors. However, on Sunday, he clarified that his remarks were not a political endorsement of the LDF government but rather an acknowledgment of the state's advancements in entrepreneurship.

The party mouthpiece's editorial cautioned that if the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) failed to capitalise on the current political climate and secure victory in the upcoming local elections, it would be a significant setback. It described any action that could potentially weaken the party’s position as "suicidal."

The article strongly opposed attributing Kerala’s industrial growth to the CPI(M)-led government, arguing that it was, in fact, the Left’s policies that had turned the state into an “industrial graveyard.”

On the other hand, it praised former Industries Ministers, including P. K. Kunhalikutty, T. V. Thomas, and K. A. Damodara Menon, while questioning what unique contributions the current Industries Minister, P. Rajeeve, had made.

The editorial ridiculed the idea of commending the LDF government for industrial growth, equating it to awarding a pacifist honour to an executioner. It also reminded readers of past CPI(M)-led protests against industrial projects in Kerala.

The editorial also criticised Tharoor for his past positive remarks regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit. It dismissed the optics of Modi embracing US President Donald Trump and securing trade and defence agreements, calling them mere political gestures. It also referenced the plight of thousands of Indian immigrants detained in US prisons, suggesting that such diplomatic engagements did little to address their struggles.

The CPI(M), apparently elated by the Congress MP's laudatory words on the LDF government's gains, welcomed Tharoor's remarks, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seized the opportunity to assert that Tharoor’s article had debunked the UDF’s “false propaganda” against Kerala’s development.

Meanwhile, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran responded by accusing the LDF government of exaggerating Kerala’s entrepreneurial growth statistics. However, he refrained from directly addressing Tharoor’s comments.

Meanwhile, Muslim League leader and former Industries Minister PK Kunhalikutty joined the UDF chorus of Tharoor-bashing by highlighting several key landmarks of Kerala's IT sector development such as Smart City in Kakkanad, Kochi, Kinfra as a facilitator of infra structural developments and Akshaya Centres which cater to the digitisation of government services and wondered where one could see the ease of doing business mentioned by Tharoor in his article.