The other candidates in the fray are seasoned politicians, but none of them is known to have written anything, certainly not books. They cannot be accused of having expressed any views, which require amendments in the context of the elections.
Tharoor's repertoire ranges from thousands of articles to more than a dozen books, fiction and non-fiction. In his long writing career, he has commented on individuals and events, which seem to haunt him now. Long before he was given the Congress ticket, an aspirant had copied extracts from his book, Midnight to Millennium and distributed them to Congress leaders across the country, not excluding the one in 10, Janpath.
Having made no impact on those who matter, his detractors have been questioning him on his scant respect for some members of the Nehru family. His defence has been that these assessments were right when they were made, but the fact that he had chosen to join the Congress Party was proof that he had a different assessment now.
But the questions keep coming from even suburban audiences, who seem to have been given the book in Malayalam translation, which has been selling well by D C Books, Kerala's most successful publisher. The questions simply bounce back when Tharoor replies them in colloquial Palakkad Malayalam in a forthright manner.
His lack of Malayalam vocabulary somehow convinces people even better than his eloquent English.
A short article by him after the Mumbai massacre of November 2008, comparing India's reaction to the terrorist attack to Israel's handling of Gaza has nothing in it which should excite Muslims, but a careful orchestration of views by the leftists, led by a former diplomat, has made it out as though Tharoor is a votary of Israel, if not its secret agent.
That the article was published in Israel was itself considered heresy, while the fact is that it was a syndicated column, which could be purchased by anyone. In fact, the article refers to the view in India that India should emulate Israel and explains why it is not possible for India to behave like Israel for various reasons.
Many see a tinge of regret in the article that India does not deal with its problems as efficiently as Israel does. It is indeed far fetched to argue that Tharoor has been fielded to project the new pro-Israel stance of the Indian government, reflected in the recent massive missile contract. Tharoor was entangled in the anti-Israel politics for no fault of his.
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