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Decoded: The love-hate relationship between Shashi Tharoor- Narendra Modi

Written By Arghya Roy Chowdhury | Updated: Sep 18, 2015, 08:25 AM IST

May this tribe of 'frenemy' politicians grow.

On Thursday, Shashi Tharoor tweeted a birthday wish to Narendra Modi. Not the usual bland birthday wish, it had a twist symbolic of the blow hot, blow cold relation between the ace Congress spokesperson and the Prime Minister of the country. Both orators of prime quality, they have had their run-ins in the past. Yet, there is a grudging respect towards each other. While Modi's oratorical skill has a distinct rugged feel that instantly gets the crowd hooked, Tharoor's deserves straight A's from the Oxbridge cabal.

But let's look back at their interactions over the years. In 2012, when Tharoor was inducted in the Manmohan Singh government, Modi made the infamous "Rs 50 crores girlfriend" remark about Sunanda Pushkar. Referring to the controversy regarding the sweat equity deal involving Kochi Tuskers and Pushkar, Modi had said, "Wah kya girlfriend hai. Apne kabhi dekha hai 50 crore ka girlfriend?" He then went on to say that, "Everyone has heard about the minister, taken back on board and rewarded for his conduct. He claimed in the Parliament that he is in no way connected to the Rs 50 crore and that these are in his friend's name. Who has heard of a crorepati girlfriend? And then girlfriend becomes wife, we learn some time later." But Tharoor had retorted with a classy reply. He had tweeted, "My wife is worth a lot more than your imaginary 50 crores. She is priceless. But you need to be able to love someone to understand that."

Also Read: Sorry Shashi Tharoor, Indian politics has failed you

It wasn't the first time that Modi and Tharoor had a run-in. When Modi posted about reaching a million followers, Tharoor had cheekily said that all followers are not fans. Having keenly followed Modi's policies, Tharoor has been harshly critical when he has found the PM to be floundering. Many believe Tharoor is the right person in the wrong party, but Tharoor has steadfastly said that he can't compromise on the issue of secularism, and hence Congress is his go-to party.

Tharoor has adopted a nuanced approach towards Narendra Modi which has proven to be anathema to many in the Congress. Shortly after Modi became PM, in a Huffington Post editorial, Tharoor said it would be "churlish" if his party did not take note of Modi's efforts to sound gracious and accommodative and reinvent himself from a "hate figure into an avatar of modernity and progress". 

He praised Modi during his epic US tour, which made headlines across the world. A Congress publication in Kerala had then launched a scathing attack at Tharoor for penning 'love songs' for PM Modi and equated him to "Siberian migratory birds who come looking for optimum climate."

In 2014, PM Modi nominated Tharoor as one of the nine ambassadors for his pet 'Swachh Bharat' project, and the Congress MP happily played his part. But that didn't too go down well with Congress and there were reports that the party was mulling to take action against him. Tharoor at that time said that he was being targeted as being an outsider and nuances are lost in electoral politics. Perhaps, the element of magnanimous eloquence which is common with an UN official is foreign for a hard-nosed politician.

Yet Tharoor didn't back off and in his book India Shastra made several charitable comments about the Prime Minister. By Tharoor's own admission, him supporting the Swachh Bharat Mission led to some political losses for him. Modi on his part, has also been charitable towards Tharoor, praising him for his recent speech at the Oxford Union Society. “The Oxford debate has huge significance, Shashiji was there… What he said there reflected the sentiments of the citizens of India.” said Modi. Tharoor on his part said it was gracious of Modi to praise him.

In the monsoon session of Parliament, when Congress was hell bent on making it a complete wash out, Tharoor raised the red flag and said that it is not the right thing to do. According to some reports, he attracted the ire of Sonia Gandhi, though the Congress MP has outrightly denied it. Just this week, Tharoor made a statement that there is mark difference between the rhetoric of the government and reality. In an NDTV blog published on Wednesday, Tharoor talks about his latest exchange with Narendra Modi about the Clean India campaign. He mentions pointing out the lack of implementation of the project and Modi apparently said that he would try to redress the issue. There lies the inherent dichotomy in the Modi-Tharoor relation, something which is in stark exception to the common tu-tu main-main politics we are so used to seeing in our country. May this tribe of 'frenemy' politicians grow.