Cong MP Manickam Tagore's ‘birds of prey’ jibe at Shashi Tharoor – ‘hawks, vultures, and eagles are always hunting’

Congress leader Manickam Tagore took a swipe at his party colleague Shashi Tharoor amid a war of words over Kerala Member of Parliament's praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor.

Tagore, a Lok Sabha MP from Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu, used the ‘bird’ analogy to attack Tharoor, a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram.

“Don’t ask permission to fly. Birds don’t need clearance to rise…But in today even a free bird must watch the skies—hawks, vultures, and ‘eagles’ are always hunting,” Tagore wrote in a post on X.

Tagore's post came a day after Tharoor shared a popular motivational message about birds and their ability to fly, emphasising self-belief and the pursuit of dreams without limitations.

‘The wings are yours’

“Don't ask permission to fly...the wings are yours. And the sky belongs to no one,” read the post on a poster accompanying a bird," Tharoor said in a cryptic post often used by many to suggest that individuals possess the potential and freedom to achieve their goals without seeking approval from others.

Tharoor's post came soon after Mallikarjun Kharge spoke about him and his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor.

“Freedom isn’t free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers,” Tagore said in his post on 26 June.

Congress puts the nation first: Kharge

Kharge, addressing a press conference on Wednesday, said Tharoor was a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) due to his good language (English) skills. Responding to Tharoor's recent praise of PM Modi, Kharge said that while the Congress puts the nation first, for some, it's Modi first.

Tharoor's praise for Modi has not gone down well with the Congress leadership. In an article published in The Hindu earlier this week, Congress MP Tharoor said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's energy, dynamism and willingness to engage remain a ‘prime asset’ for India on the global stage but deserve greater backing. Tharoor said the diplomatic outreach following "Operation Sindoor" was a moment of national resolve and effective communication.

The article was shared by the Prime Minister's Office on its social media handle, too.

Tharoor's praise for PM Modi

Tharoor's praise for the prime minister comes at a time when the Congress has been consistently attacking the Modi government over its foreign policy.

After India launched Operation Sindoor in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, Tharoor has been making comments on the India-Pakistan conflict and the diplomatic outreach that are at variance with the stand of the Congress. 

Tharoor took the India case post Operation Sindoor in foreign countries while heading an all-party delegation that returned earlier this month.