Former diplomat and member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor, is well known for his excellent oratory skills. He has time and again proved that he is the voice for the new-age Indian. He can speak on virtually any topic and is heard globally through columns, books and interviews. The US-educated Tharoor talks about topics in an erudite and witty manner so that they are heard and generate buzz everywhere. He enthralls the Indian and international media and even his huge Twitter followers. In fact, his speech at the Oxford Union debate on the legacy of the Raj not only went viral but was praised by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself!
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During the launch of his book Inglorious Empire, he visited a bunch of US universities. At one such visit, a Pakistani girl asked him a question on ‘India Occupied Kashmir.’ He was questioned, “How long will we keep on talking about Kashmir and keep this as a bone of contention?”
To this, Tharoor gave a befitting reply and said: “I am not, you are!”
To elaborate his point, he said what Pakistan has failed to appreciate is that there is a big difference in the logic underlying the partition from two different sides.
“Pakistan was created as a result of one party wanting a state for a people of particular religion. Now the Indian nationalist movement was never brought into that logic as this movement claimed to be of every faith, religion, cast and language. It never accepted that logic that because Pakistan has been created as a state for Muslims, then what remains must necessarily be a state for Hindus. In fact, the Indian nationalist movement explicitly rejected that logic,” he said.
He further explained why religion was a futile basis of religion for building a nation.