Indian map without J&K and Ladakh: Tharoor's manifesto gathers flak

New Delhi: Shashi Tharoor releases his manifesto for the Congress presidential election to land in trouble. The document he released carried a page featuring the map of India but failed to include parts of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Ladakh, NDTV reported.

The manifesto has gathered criticism from netizens, particularly the users of Twitter, on which Tharoor has more than 8 million followers. They said that the map was "a massive goof-up" and "shameful". Some even commented that he was being "divisive", NDTV reports.

In Shashi Tharoor's manifesto booklet, having the tagline 'Think Tomorrow, Think Tharoor', a map of India featured a network of dots showing the Congress units across India. While the original Indian map shows parts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh occupied by Pakistan and China, Tharoor's manifesto left some parts out.

According to the media house, Tharoor was getting trapped in a map-in-a-booklet controversy for the second time in three years. The former union minister had shared the cover of a booklet about Kerala Congress's protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019 but deleted the post after the BJP's IT Cell and leaders like Sambit Patra went after him.

Shashi Tharoor is the main opponent for Rajya Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge in the poll to the party's high seat. Kharge has apparent backing from the Gandhi family, NDTV says.

The election is the first in 20 years where none of the Gandhis is contesting. After allegations of nepotism, the family decided to insist that non-Gandhi take the high seat.