After Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP Manish Tewari's 'call of the nation' message

After Shashi Tharoor cited national interest to justify his participation, Congress MP Manish Tewari has also invoked the "call of the nation" to explain his decision to join the Indian delegation for global outreach against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. The Congress leadership had unsuccessfully tried to prevent both MPs from joining the delegations, with LoP Rahul Gandhi proposing four alternate names. The government rejected the Congress list, only accepting Anand Sharma in addition to its original picks.

Tewari posted a patriotic song clip from the 1975 film Aakraman, sung by Kishore Kumar, on X to underscore his message. "A song from the movie 'Aakraman' (1975) sung by Kishore Kumar for Rajesh Khanna shows us how to answer the call of the nation," he wrote, quoting the lyrics:

"Dekho veer jawanon apne khoon pe yeh ilzaam na aaye,

Maa na kahe ke mere bete waqt pada to kaam na aaye."

Combative Congress

Meanwhile, the Congress leadership, unable to control the government's choices or its own MPs, turned combative. Party spokesperson Jairam Ramesh alleged that the PM was "forced to send all-party delegations overseas" after over a decade of "abusing" the Opposition, calling the outreach "momentary, hypocritical, and opportunistic bipartisanship."