An influential Muslim body in Thiruvananthapuram, Mahallu Empowerment Mission, on Friday withdrew its invite to Shashi Tharoor to be the chief guest at the Palestine Solidarity meeting it was organising on October 30. The decision comes a day after Tharoor referred to Hamas as "those terrorists" at the Muslim League's Palestine Solidarity rally in Kozhikode on October 26.
"We have the highest regard for Tharoor but his comments at the Kozhikode rally has deeply pained us," said Usain Moulavi, the convenor of the Mahallu Empowerment Mission, the umbrella organisation of 32 Muslim mahallu jama-aths spread over the 100 wards of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. He told Onmanorama that the Mission had informed the MP's office of its decision to revoke the invite.
It was just for a few seconds in his 32-minute Kozhikode speech that Shashi Tharoor resorted to what can be called a balanced approach while speaking of the Israel-Hamas war. Right after he said the Israel response was disproportionate, he remarked that the Hamas were terrorists who killed innocent women and children. Otherwise, right through the speech, Tharoor's emphasis was on the suffering of Palestinians and how historically India had unwaveringly stood for the Palestinian cause.
Nonetheless, the lone mention of Hamas as a terrorist organiation was enough to embarass the Muslim League. One of the most prominent League baiters, former minister K T Jaleel, mockingly asked: "Was the Kozhikode rally in solidarity with Israel?"
Both Tharoor and the Muslim League were forced to clarify. Tharoor said that he had always stood with the Palestinian people and had consistently spoken about their human rights. "I have nothing to say if one word of mine has been separated and made out into a controversy," he said.
The League did not want the success of its rally masked by Tharoor's controversial statement. Senior leader Kunhalikutty seemed in a grim mood while facing the media on Friday. He did not even take Tharoor by name. "Some people have already said that they are with the Palestinians. if you are still not convinced, you can ask them," he told reporters in Kozhikode.
While choosing Tharoor as the keynote speaker at the solidarity rally, the Muslim League clearly expected unconditional support for the Palestinian cause. The Mahallu Empowerment Mission, which has now dropped him as chief guest, also had a similar expectation. But if it was unquestioning support that these Muslim bodies wanted, Tharoor's door should have been the last one they should have knocked.
That Tharoor considered the Hamas action as an act of terrorism was already on record. This is what he tweeted on October 8, the day after the surprise Hamas attack on Israel. "There is never any excuse for terrorism and India must condemn it unreservedly. But there is no excuse for dehumanizing occupation either and that too must end."
Even then, Tharoor was reluctant to brand Hamas as a terrorist organisation. "We must not follow other countries in such matters. The US consider Hamas as terrorist organisation, so does Israel. India has not made any such classification. And I am going to stick to the India's position," he had said.
This had enraged Israel's former ambassador to India Daniel Carmon. "Seriously, Shashi Tharoor, can you not? After decades of terror against my people, challenging the very Palestinian Authority, especially after this week's savage slaughter of over a thousand peaceful human beings, can you not label Hamas as terrorists? Frankly, I am shocked," Carmon asked in a tweet on October 11.
Tharoor was apologetic. The very next day he tweeted. "All I said was that India has not issued such a designation, though others have. Undoubtedly Hamas conducted terrorist acts, which I roundly condemned. Don’t be misled by crude headlines seeking to distort my words. I feel for you and other friends in Israel at this difficult time, and hope & pray for your continued safety."
Therefore, when Tharoor called the Hamas terrorists at the Kozhikode rally, it was not as if he had sprung a surprise. He was only restating his oft-repeated political line, clearly unaware that it would cause such a huge setback for the League and the also the Congress.
The real surprise was that the League even missed the fact that Tharoor held a slightly different position on the issue than even the Congress party. The Congress Working Committee resolution on October 9, unlike Tharoor, is not swayed by the Hamas action. There is no attempt to balance. It throws its weight unconditionally behind Palestine. "The CWC reiterates its long-standing support for the rights of the Palestinian people to land, self-government and to live with dignity and respect," it says.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan reaffirmed the Congress position. “The Congress party has just one stand. We want a free Palestine,” he said.
