Congress MP Shashi Tharoor apologised "unconditionally" after he was slammed by the BJP for a gaffe in the map of India that was published in his manifesto for the party president election. Tharoor shared the correct version of India's map, which did not have parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in the earlier document, after social media users attacked him over it, particularly BJP supporters on Twitter.
"No one does such things on purpose. A small team of volunteers made a mistake. We rectified it immediately &I apologise unconditionally for the error," Tharoor tweeted.
The Congress distanced itself from the "egregious error" and deflected the BJP's attacks on Rahul Gandhi's ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
"The BJP is clearly panicking now that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has entered Karnataka. The 'I Troll Cell' (IT Cell) of the BJP will look for any flimsy excuse to target and tarnish the Bharat Jodo Yatra and Rahul Gandhi. Only Dr Tharoor and his team can explain this egregious error," Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh tweeted.
In his manifesto booklet with the tagline 'Think Tomorrow, Think Tharoor', he used a dotted map representing Congress units spread across the expanse of India. However, it was different from India's official map.
"Every party needs leadership, but at all levels and not just at the top. The Congress must empower the party in the states by giving real authority to the PCC Presidents, decentralize authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party. We must provide a credible alternative to the BJP’s centralization of authority in its party affairs and in the affairs of governance. Re-imagining the organization, delegating powers to state, district and block leaders, and empowering grassroots workers will not only free the new leader from the onerous burdens of over-administration, but help create the strong state leadership that in past eras strengthened the Congress’ national appeal," read Tharoor’s manifesto.
Social media users were quick to point out the wrong map and called it "a massive goof-up" and "a shameful act", with some accusing him of having "a divisive agenda".
Notably, this is the second time in three years that Shashi Tharoor has landed on a map-in-a-booklet row.
In December 2019, Tharoor shared publicity material about a Kerala Congress protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), with a similar problem.
He later deleted that tweet after the BJP's IT Cell and leaders went after him. He said that the map was to "depict not the territory but the people of India".