Shashi Tharoor Apologises For Tweet Against PM Modi's Bangladesh Speech, Had Implied Indira Gandhi Was Not Mentioned

"I must have been 20-22 years old when I and my colleagues did satyagraha for Bangladesh's freedom," PM Narendra Modi had said. Tharoor had tweeted in reaction to it.

Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor & PM Narendra Modi (Photo: AFP | Twitter/@BJP4India)

New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor apologised for a tweet wherein he had countered a quote from PM Narendra Modi's speech given during the  National Day programme in Dhaka.

In his first foreign trip after the Coronavirus outbreak, PM Narendra Modi was in Bangladesh to attend the country's National Day celebrations. One of his statements from the speech went viral and has become a subject of debate.

The Prime Minister had recalled the 1971 war and said the pictures of atrocities that the Pakistan Army inflicted on the people in then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) used to disturb people in India.

"I must have been 20-22 years old when I and my colleagues did satyagraha for Bangladesh's freedom," he said.

Reacting to this statement, Tharoor had tweeted: "International education: our PM is giving Bangladesh a taste of Indian 'fake news'. The absurdity is that everyone knows who liberated Bangladesh." The implication being that the then-PM Indira Gandhi was not mentioned in credit to the movement that led to the formation of Bangladesh.

 Today, he apologised for the tweet while citing an ABP Live report.

"I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong. Yesterday, on the basis of a quick reading of headlines & tweets, I tweeted "everyone knows who liberated Bangladesh," implying that 
Narendra Modi had omitted to acknowledge Indira Gandhi. It turns out he did.. Sorry!": he wrote.

Several reactions have been shared on social media platforms with Congress ridiculing the Prime Minister's statement. Jairam Ramesh too shared a cartoon taking a dig at PM Modi and wrote, "Entire Political Science by Narendra Modi."

Countering these reactions, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya defended PM Modi's statement by tweeting: "Was Prime Minister Modi part of satyagrah organised by Jana Sangha for recognition of Bangladesh? Yes, he was."

"A citation awarded by Bangladesh to Vajpayee ji speaks of the rally. PM Modi, in a book authored in 1978, also wrote about going to Tihar during Bangladesh satyagrah!" he wrote, sharing a snapshot of the citation to Vajpayee.