'Insistence On Loyalty Undermines Democracy': Shashi Tharoor On Political Practices By Parties

Last Updated:November 14, 2025, 00:04 IST

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also addressed the evolving ideological direction of the Congress, suggesting that it has become notably more Leftist in recent years

Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor delivers the Jyoti Komireddy Memorial Lecture on 'Radical Centrism: My Vision for India' in memory of Jyoti Komireddy, a pioneering women's rights activist and legislator who passed away in 2024, in Hyderabad on November 13, 2025. (Image: PTI)

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has shared a broader observation regarding political practices saying each party’s insistence on loyalty undermines democracy.

Tharoor also addressed the evolving ideological direction of the Congress, suggesting that it has become notably more Leftist in recent years in response to the “divisive politics" of the BJP.

“Each party’s insistence on loyalty to its leaders rather than to a set of principles undermines democracy," Tharoor said while delivering the Jyoti Komireddy Memorial Lecture on ‘Radical Centrism: My Vision for India’ in Hyderabad.

The lecture was in memory of Jyoti Komireddy, a pioneering women’s rights activist and legislator who passed away in 2024. 

Tharoor noted that, in some ways, one of the consequences of tactical adjustments has been that his party has become “a much more, sort of, Left party than it used to be". This current ideological stance stands in contrast to previous periods in the party’s history.

Specifically, he pointed out that if one examines the party under Dr Manmohan Singh, “you could argue it was more consciously centrist in its approach". He said the government led by Dr Manmohan Singh had borrowed from some of the policies of the predecessor BJP government.

The Congress MP recalled historical continuity, noting that the Congress had established some policies in the early 1990s under then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, which the BJP subsequently followed when it came to power a few years later.

He argued that there was a distinctly centrist phase in Congress between 1991 and 2009, which arguably began changing after that period. He stated that “Certainly, in the last few years in opposition, Congress has certainly become much more of a Leftist party than it used to be in the earlier days". While noting this shift, Tharoor mused on the underlying reason for the change, stating that whether it is a “tactical adjustment or philosophical conviction or whatever remains to be seen".

When delivering his remarks, which followed an  Tharoor clarified that his comments were focused on convictions and ideology, where certain gaps needed to be bridged, rather than on “nuts and bolts practical politics". He also clarified that what he was advocating went beyond immediate tactical adjustments at the political seat level.

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News politics 'Insistence On Loyalty Undermines Democracy': Shashi Tharoor On Political Practices By Parties

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