After party criticism for Modi praise, Tharoor says Gandhi stood for India truly clean

Thiruvananthapuram: After the warning by the Congress in Kerala that he stop praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday tweeted that Mahatma Gandhi stood not only for physical cleanliness but for cleanliness of mind, heart, soul and spirit.

“As my #GandhiTweets indicate, the Mahatma stood not only for physical cleanliness but for cleanliness of mind,heart,soul,spirit. Therefore urge @PMOIndia to also work for an India cleansed of bigotry, hatred, intolerance& divisiveness, an India that is truly clean,” Tharoor tweeted.

Signalling that disciplinary action would be contemplated against Tharoor if he kept on lauding Modi's initiatives, KPCC Vice President M M Hassan on Monday had said, "As a first step, we are asking him to stop praising Modi as his stance went totally against the Congress' ideals."

Expressing his strong displeasure, KPCC president V M Sudheeran had also said Tharoor should not be oblivious of the fact that he had been elected on the Congress ticket.

Sudheeran had indicated that, if necessary, disciplinary action would be initiated against Tharoor after consulting with other leaders if he kept on eulogising Modi.

Defending himself, Tharoor Monday had said in a comment on social networking website Facebook that his response to Modi's call to support the "Swachh Bharat" campaign would not mean that he even remotely endorsed the BJP's "core Hindutva" agenda and that he continued to be a "proud Congressman".

"I am astonished that anyone would suggest that I am pro-BJP. I have a 30-year paper trail of published writings on my idea of India and my profound belief in India's pluralism," he said.

Tharoor had responded positively to Modi's invitation to join the ambitious Swachh Bharat campaign but wanted it to be a sustained programme instead of being "tokenism".

Responding to Modi's call, Tharoor had last week said he was honoured to accept the invitation to join the 'Clean India campaign'.