SRINAGAR / NEW DELHI — A significant internal rift has opened within the Congress party after senior leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor praised the administrative and security progress in Jammu and Kashmir. Following an official meeting with J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at Lok Bhavan in Srinagar, Tharoor publicly highlighted “encouraging progress towards normalcy,” drawing swift and sharp criticism from his own party’s regional leadership.
Tharoor’s public optimism directly undercuts the Congress party’s long-standing national stance, which heavily criticizes the central government’s Kashmir policy, pointing to the removal of statehood and alleging an environment of political suppression.
The Social Media Post That Rekindled the Debate
The controversy erupted when Tharoor shared details of his interaction with LG Manoj Sinha on X (formerly Twitter), expressing an unexpectedly positive outlook on the region’s current state of affairs.
“In Srinagar! Had the honour of an excellent meeting with Lieutenant-Governor Shri Manoj Sinha at Lok Bhavan today,” Tharoor wrote. “We discussed the situation in the state and the encouraging progress towards normalcy… Many challenges remain and much remains to be done, but I left the meeting feeling more positives than I have felt for a while.”
Tharoor also welcomed what he observed as “positive outreach,” noting that the LG was interacting with leaders of the Kashmiri Writers’ Association and local women’s organizations when he arrived.
Internal Pushback: J&K Congress Confronts Tharoor
The regional unit of the Congress party moved rapidly to counter Tharoor’s narrative. Ravinder Sharma, the Chief Spokesperson of the Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC), publicly called out the veteran MP, accusing him of bypassing local stakeholders and his own party colleagues who are actively campaigning on the ground.
“People of Kashmir too were expecting you to meet them to have a better understanding of the ground realities,” Sharma responded on social media. “At least could’ve spared some time to meet own partymen fighting for statehood snatched from us.”
The local leadership expressed immense frustration that Tharoor’s remarks handed an easy political victory to their opponents by validating the Center’s administrative claims.
BJP Weaponizes the Policy Contradiction
The ruling BJP quickly seized on Tharoor’s endorsement to defend its post-Article 370 governance model, contrasting the senior Congress leader’s firsthand observations with his party’s official statements.
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Reduction in Street Violence: BJP Spokesperson Abhijeet Jasrotia stated that organized stone-pelting has effectively ceased since the 2019 structural changes.
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Drop in Militant Recruitment: Jasrotia pointed to recent official security assessments indicating that local recruitment into insurgent groups has dropped completely over the last 18 months, arguing that Tharoor was simply acknowledging undeniable ground facts.
