Shashi Tharoor, born on 9 March 1956 is an Indian diplomat and writer who has been known mostly for his having worked as an Indian diplomat at the United Nations. In 2006, he was the official candidate of India for the office of United Nations Secretary-General, and came second out of seven official candidates in the race. Tharoor served as the UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information between June 2002 and February 2007, during the term of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He is an author, journalist, and fellow of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.
Tharoor was recently declared as the Indian National Congress candidate of the Trivandrum constituency in Kerala for the General Elections in 2009.
Why should you support him?
- He has a Ph.D, two masters degree and is a graduate from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. A rare breed of educated politicians.
- Tharoor’s was an exceptional UN career, rising as he did from the P-2 level to the highest possible rank of Under-Secretary-General in a mere 23 years.
- He has a reputation in the UN for being a reformer by action. Something Indian politics really need at this hour.
- Shashi Tharoor’s resume and work experience is way better than other candidates in almost all of Kerala.
Silly Allegations against Shashi Tharoor
- He does not have an address in Kerala. (Dont worry folks, we will buy him a house here)
- He insulted the National Anthem By placing his hand on his heart (American Style). I think of it as passionate way of respecting the national anthem.
What can you do to support him?
You can blog about Shashi Tharoor and tell people the best reasons to vote for him. You can compare him with other candidates in the constituency. Put up support badges in your blog. Share information about Tharoor on social media websites.
Why I support him?
Well, I watched an interview with Shasi last saturday in Indiavision. Here is what it is
Anchor: There are allegations that you dunno good malayalam
Shasi: I accept that! My fluency in Malayalam is not that good. But I can understand it by hearing, so i can understand the problem of TVM ppl. Then I will go to Delhi and work for TVM ppls problem in English or Hindi! Afterall in Delhi, you cant use Malayalam!!
GREAT REPLY!!
Comment by Jojo Joson — March 25, 2009 @ 2:57 am
I am a native of Trivandrum and I like Dr. Tharoor due to his efficiency to handle as a minister at cabinet level who is aged 52 years. We need qualified politicians in the Center to work for Indian development. No need of a silent member in the parliament to spend many crores of rupees as a waste. The members of the parliament is not to walk out from the sessions or not to shout in the middle hall. We need discussions in the parliament and actions are needed to guide the Nation. Dr. Tharoor is capable to handle as a Minister for external affairs. The candidates wins by the votes of Independent voters who know whom to vote.
My full support to Dr. Sasi Tharoor.
My language may be too week due to old Malayalam medium SSLC.
Comment by keralafarmer — March 25, 2009 @ 4:37 am
@Keralafarmer – What you said is very true…
We need qualified people to represent us. and Tharoor is the best candidate for that.
Knowing malayalam is not the criteria for being a good leader, as someone mentioned, you can’t do anything in Delhi without knowing English or Hindi.
So irrespective of the color of the flag and parties, please vote the people, who is really capable of doing something for us and our city.
Comment by Renjith — March 25, 2009 @ 7:08 pm
Tharoor is a refreshing change to the Kerala political scenario, especially to the citizens of Trivandrum who for decades have been forced to pick from a basket of rotten apples, oranges, bananas and plums. And those who went to New Delhi never bothered to wrestle their powers for the long neglected developmental issues of Trivandrum.
Tharoor, hopefully will be a livewire in Parliament and will be able to breath in a lease of fresh life of the infrastructure woes of Tvm.
Comment by scorpiogenius — March 26, 2009 @ 8:18 am
I hope, educated and sensible people in Kerala will vote for Shashi Tharoor, the charismatic politician. They will also vote for Indian national Congress and UDF/UPA candidates.
In the last 3 years, there is no governance in the state. The law-and-order is in total collapse. Everyday Kerala High Court is criticizing Kerala Govt for its inefficiency. We have 18 CMs and 1 Minister. The CM have no control on his government. Almost all of the ministers are corrupted and part of sex mfia, land mafia, etc. Corruption and Rape Incidents are rampant after this LDF Govt. Kerala’s LDF Govt is openly supporting Islamic terrorist outfits like PDP, Jamat e Islami, AP Sunni, INL, Mujahideen, etc. Apart from that they are attacking and abusing Christians and Nairs, and also Pulayas, Dheevaras, and Vishwakarmas. The place of this Govt should be in septic tank.
Comment by Riva T Philip — March 26, 2009 @ 11:19 am
i dnt support Dr,sasi tharoor.
coz: he support the ISRAEL in killing innocent gazza people.
(In his article in Jewish paper HARETZ)
How can justfy it?
Comment by savad — March 27, 2009 @ 4:37 am
PLS REPLY ME
Comment by savad — March 27, 2009 @ 4:38 am
@savad
well, what about Gaza people sending missiles to israel and creating terror ?
Every action has a reaction!!
Comment by Jojo — March 27, 2009 @ 9:32 am
People judge others by the education they have. And they make mistake by thinking that the education is calculated by the number of certificates they have or in which institution they studied. Albert Einstein said “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned in school.” Even if some of our politicians are uneducated, they have proved that they can serve the people efficiently. India’s problem is not uneducated politicians. Its those politicians who just need money and power. It’s the duty of the educated citizens to pin-point those people and keep them away from politics. I will say that the citizens are uneducated or the educated citizens are not acting (they are just blogging only
) Awareness should be followed by ACTION!
Shashi Tharoor is a good diplomat and I dont know much about his political capabilities. I disagree with some of his view points, but never mind, may be he can do good for the nation. Or else, people have the power to change him. I think he can be a good minister for external affairs, but dont know how helpful he will be in the development of Trivandrum and Kerala. Its because some of his view points are just not good for the state and its people. Its true that he will be able to express himself good in Delhi (with his english), but to know what kerala really need, he should be spending more time with the normal people of kerala. In kerala, he seems to be busy educating people with english and american way of living. He should be spending more time with normal people of Kerala and to understand their requirements.
Anyway, I dont have vote in TVM, but I wish him the very best. He is capable of voicing about us in the Parliament, but lets hope (or I personally hope) that he does not try to spread more of western life styles here. May be I am misunderstanding him, but I feel that way. Let me go and read some of his books, then only I know.
* All that glitters is not gold *
Comment by BJ — March 28, 2009 @ 8:26 am
And something that doesn’t glitter is never gold.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — March 29, 2009 @ 3:39 am
Good that you are spreading the word around! I hope you wont mind me taking a picture and displaying it as a badge on my blog!
p.s. I am linking it to the shashitharoor.in page!
Comment by Nitram — March 29, 2009 @ 10:43 am
I support Mr.Tharoor. But he should not forget Trivandrum and Kerala once he elected for a position. He should be standing to support the needs of Kerala like Tamil ministers how they are taking advantages. He should be a politician rather than a diplomat. Hope, he will make his mindset as a born Keralite.
Comment by Aji Raveendran — March 31, 2009 @ 6:28 am
Yes, I support Mr Taroor. The politicians should be a person like him. The MP should be a person who is able to handle the subjects in the parliament. It doesnt matters he is able to speak malayalam or not. Hope he know how to voice in the parliament with his position. The MP should be someone who knows all about the world and not be a person who
is concentrated to a particular area or knowing the problems of a particular area.
Comment by Deepa — April 1, 2009 @ 4:45 am
I think there is only one candidate who is capable to be a leader from trivandrum, and that’s Tharoor. I’m not a supporter of any parties, and i’m not talking in any political angle.
Someone mentioned that, ppl should oppose tharoor because of his views about Gazza. come on, as a person he also has his own views about the incidents.
I don’t know why we are so much worried about the gazza when we have enough terrors with in our country to worry about. Its the right of the Israel, to decide how to handle the people making troubles to them.
Still I remember, we celebrated a harthal for Saddam’s execution – A big deal! we guys should’ve watch the videos in youtube to understand about how he chopped thousands of innocent people in his country.
We are too much worried about the incidents happened outside our country. and we are intentionally forgetting about the issues within our country. so this time let’s think about ourselves, and take a break from showing too much empathy to the ppl which we are not known.
Comment by Renjith — April 2, 2009 @ 1:58 am
how can we expect much more from Mr:Sasi Tharoor overall he is contesting for Cong:
Comment by RAJESH CHITTILAMCHERRY — April 2, 2009 @ 11:19 am
Shasi Tharoor should WIN
Comment by lijo — April 2, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
I strongly agree to the fact that we need educated politicians in our house.
Also about Sasi tharoor, first I had very good evaluations about him. But later after reading his book riot…. And then heard about his connections with Sai Baba… I am really worried how this man gifted with so much skills are going to use his skills of eloquence, diplomacy wast knowledge etc in the correct track… If he is planning to use his skills as a Sai baba devotee, I am not sure ebout how better he would be…
Comment by Tojo — April 3, 2009 @ 1:19 am
Not speaking fluent Malayalam isn’t a VERY BIG problem as an MP from Kerala, but still it is awkward..!
Not sure whether he knows Hindi…!
Ok leave it.
Speak in English or French, but he should speak about Kerala especially about Trivandrum as an MP(if he wins). How can he speak it without knowing Kerala or its issues. When one blogger asked him about Farmer’s issues and concerns in detail, he replied like an alien “I too heard like farmers suiciding…! We should study & align all these issues with central policies..!”. Which ever questions asked his replies included the special imported words “central policies”. What if NDA or 3rd or 4th or 5th…. fronts make a Govt. @ centre. Where will he align all policies. Will he align to the then govt. policies ?
First of all, one should be able to understand the basic issues of constituencies. I don’t think Sashi can absorb these basic sorts of issues as he is only into inernational policies…
But if congress makes a Govt. Sashi may become a minister (Even if he fails from Triavndrum, there is Rajyasabha….
)
He was not a congress party guy/leader..!
but how he became a Congress candidate all of a sudden. He could contest as an independent candidate.
I respect him personally as a diplomat but not as a politician.
Pinne generally one last thing. Aaaru jayichaalum common man benefit kittunna onnum ivide nadakkan pokunnilla. Because this is kerala and our politicians, not Tamilnadu as one comment mentions..!
Sashi oru central minister aakatte. (From Rajyasabha)
Comment by Libin Tom — April 3, 2009 @ 9:54 am
@Tojo, Your arguments seems so strange. being a devotee of saibaba, he cannot be a good leader?
. very funny comment!
Whatever it is he is the best pick available in our basket. don’t you think so? lets forget about all the politics and color of the flags, at least for this time.
Comment by Renjith — April 3, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
His election is a historical one.In India election season has come yet again. Political parties are upto palying the tricks of caste, religion, greed and liquor . All indians to be wise and broad minded, its the country, society which is more important than once’s personal,religious or caste interest. We must accept we have very very limited scope to vote for a good person, but thankfully still we have a chance to vote for some one good. We can not expect much of change in our political system or in our governance, but atleast we should give a try to change. Every politician appeals to the intellectuals and educated people and even challenges them to enter the politics, bring the changes and clean the dirt. alas end of the day, all parties fields criminals on their tickets, misery is people who are convicted are fielded, who are in Jails are also fileded. Wise people saves our country and our democracy. Casting our vote is to for the satisfaction that,atleast let us bring a change.
Wisdom should work above sentimentalism and work earnestly without attachment. Should be be an authentic also. Communicate authenticity to voters by standing up for what you believe in and sharing with voters what it is that calls you to public service.Election Day is a turnout game, so make sure that you have a robust effort to get your supporters to the polls. Get-Out-the-Vote planning should begin on day one of your campaign. Work with reporters to earn media coverage to help communicate the message of your campaign to a broader audience. Even on a grassroots campaign, don’t underestimate the importance of raising money. Start by generating a list of personal contacts and send a letter asking for their support. You won’t get what you don’t ask for. Ask directly for people’s money, time, and, of course, their vote. Convert undecided voters into supporters, and supporters into active volunteers and leaders. Ignore the people you’ll never convince!
Generate repeated, direct, personal contacts with voters. The more personal the conversation, the more effective it is at persuading voters to support you. Repeat that message over and over and over again. When you are completely tired of repeating your message, voters are just beginning to hear it.. Develop a compelling message that connects with voters and conveys the central argument of your campaign-why you are running, and why voters should choose you. Lay out your path to victory in a campaign plan that you refer to often. Your plan is not a plan unless it’s written down! There is an important distinction between effectiveness and efficiency in managing an election.· Effectiveness is doing the right things.
· Efficiency is doing things right.
The general principles of effective management can be applied in every field, the differences being more in application than in principle. The Manager’s functions can be summed up as:
· Forming a vision
· Planning the strategy to realize the vision.
· Cultivating the art of leadership.
· Establishing institutional excellence.
· Building an innovative organization.
· Developing human resources.
· Building teams and teamwork.
· Delegation, motivation, and communication..
· Reviewing performance and taking corrective steps when called for.
Thus, election management is a process of aligning people and getting them committed to work for a common goal to the maximum social benefit – in search of excellence.
Comment by bhattathiri — April 5, 2009 @ 11:25 pm
Dr Shashi Tharoor …..A Beacon Of Hope.
We, the people of India from the time immemorial have been enslaved either by our own kings or Invaders like Afghans Turks or Europeans, our crime is that when the time comes to choose the best for the country we lack a sense of collective responsibility, we act senseless, we close our eyes, we divide and sub divide and eventually find asylum in arms of criminals or useless, narrow minded assholes (I specifically used the term “assholes “ because some people are capable of expelling out “only shit”.)
The irresponsible behavior of our past generation has pushed us into this miserable condition. We have the resources to be the best among all other nations. By resource I not only mean materialistic abundance but also intellectual capabilities, but our fathers and forefathers failed to stand together, they failed to act collectively to make sure that future generation wouldn’t share the same destiny; As a result of which, presently, we are the biggest among the third world.
Now the time has come, that precious moment to foresee the future and act accordingly is here, we make sure that this time and every time, we stand together. No political groups, no religious groups nor any caste groups will divide us. We elect to select the best for our present and our future.
People like Dr Shashi Tharoor (standing in Trivandrum as a UDF candidate), Dr Hussain Randathani standing at Ponnani as an LDF Candidate), can be seen as “the best tools” for a better future. The victory of these candidates would send across a new wave of intellect among the people, a better attitude towards their country and countrymen. And it’s the Masses attitude that determines a country’s prosper altitude. Their victory would encourage renowned and educated people to join the politics and change the system; bring inn economic and social revolution.
I hope that this time we think and Vote rather than vote and think.
I would like to quote from Gitanjali
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action—
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. “
Comment by rajeshushus — April 9, 2009 @ 10:16 pm
best wishes…….
we support you …………
Comment by tauseef.n — April 11, 2009 @ 7:28 am
Great guy, BUT WRONG PARTY. Since the party with LS polls determines the future of the nation I can’t think of voting for him.
Comment by WhoCares — April 11, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
Oh My God ! What apolitical statements by the bloggers. I for one will not choose Shashi Tharoor for the simple fact that he himself does not believe in doing anything for the State. he has always been doing things for himself and the “world” and he is best at that. Even if you all vote for him, do so with the full understanding that he will just go away to where he belongs – fly like an eagle and only perch in your constituency when he is tired of preying up there !!
Comment by A V Nair — April 11, 2009 @ 5:26 pm
We ve had politicians who have done nothing but lie lie and divide people ..let us give educated people a chance …they cannot be worse than the current bunch who talk and nothing else ..who cannot hve a standing beyond the boundaries of their homes. My friend ..Why we discussing Palestinans n gaxza…ths is a bout INDIA …our home not US/PAKistan / RUSSIA ..israel ..palestinine..arabs..blacks..whites…but US the INDIANS..
Comment by prem — April 11, 2009 @ 6:33 pm
I hope Sashi Tharoor wins. I called my parents to ask them to vote for him, since I am in Dubai. They were already planning to do that, though ours is a rather BJP or Leftist leaning family.
To those dumbos who bring in Israel to everything – firstly – there is a huge silent population in India, who support Israel more than the Saudi-Iran types in the Middle Eastern Issues. Israel is the only democracy in that region. Secondly a good part of the medicines that save your children use direct or indirect Israeli knowhow. Thirdly, all these Islamic countries have direct and indirect contact with Israel. So does, Russia and China.
As an Indian I want Israel to be one of our 3 best friends. Remember how bad we felt when some monsters from Pakistan attacked Taj spilling innocent blood. Israel lives with a similar threat, daily. Sometimes they react, spilling Palestinian blood. Dont blame them entirely for that. jayan.nair30@gmail.com
Comment by Jayan Nair — April 12, 2009 @ 8:52 am
Shashi Tharoor is a candidate facing small and silly criticisms than any conducted in India till now?
Ans. Politicians from congress and other parties have to face this as a challenge. The common people will support Dr. Tharoor beyond party politics. From a school student these peoples are brain washing to come under their leadership to obey & to work for them at a qualified stage too. For that they are getting trained to destroy public properties etc.
One who can read Malyalam they can visit my blog for more news (link with this comment).
Comment by keralafarmer — April 13, 2009 @ 4:51 am
Respected Sasitharoor,
U will win this election with a huge margin.
Comment by Appukuttan — April 14, 2009 @ 10:33 am
Mr. Sasi Tharoor is the most suitable candidate to elect for Lok Sabha. IF we compare his quality with other candidate we can not reject him.
I wish him success.
Comment by Murali — April 16, 2009 @ 2:22 pm
Respected P.M. sir,
you rightly said that national parties with nation wide look can only run the country properly otherwise regional parties try to control national parties as their support is necessary to run the Govt due to political compulsions.
Only way to overcome this problem is adoption of German system on consensus to amend the constitution.National parties consensus is enough because some regional parties may not support.
1)50% of loksabha seats by present first past post system and remaining 50% by percentage of votes polled to a party leaving parties secured below 5% of popular votes.
2)states need not have council ie the second chamber which drain money so that many states abolished it but some having and no uniformity.
3)As far as Rajya sabha is concern percentage of votes polled in assembly elections shall be taken into account besides filling 50% assembly seats.
4)Both loksabha and rajyasabha as well as assemblies shall have the term of 5 years
and Govt may change without elections before the completion of 5 years.
As our country has to play bigger role in UN and many developing countries desire it to have a common global currency by world bank for international exchange in the present scenario and globally accepted system of awards like Nobel and oscar, as well as international education syllabi by UN body of UNESCO instead of select countries giving the awards.
Yours truly,
suresh
Comment by sureshnair — April 18, 2009 @ 3:34 am
Shasi Tharoor’s management is a process of aligning people and getting them committed to work for a common goal to the maximum social benefit – in search of excellence. Major functions of a manager are planning, organizing, leading and coordinating activities — they put different emphasis and suggest different natures of activities in the following four major functions..
The critical question in all managers’ minds is how to be effective in their job. The answer to this fundamental question is found in the Bhagavad-Gita, which repeatedly proclaims that “you must try to manage yourself.” The reason is that unless a manager reaches a level of excellence and effectiveness, he or she will be merely a face in the crowd.
Comment by bhattathiri — April 20, 2009 @ 11:15 pm
In this emerging stage, India needs somebody who can represent us with confidence in front of the world. For this reason I support Mr. Sasi Taroor.
Comment by Vineesh — April 21, 2009 @ 7:11 am
I don’t trust any of these politicians. Shashi Tharoor is another big headed Obama type, acting like he is a Messiah (or at least that’s what the media portrays him as). He thrives on empty rhetoric like “change” and “development”. Not one of them has ever delivered anthing good for the Indian masses.
His overly Anglicised demeanour makes me sick. The “outsider” label is justifiable. How dare he disrespect the way Indians sing THEIR National Anthem!! Why should they adopt snooty American mannerisms??
I’d rather vote for a goonda like Mayawati than this snob. At least her corruption is out in the open. This one will be a failure just like all the other Indian politicians out there.
Comment by Nil — April 25, 2009 @ 3:43 pm
Sir,
Congratulations for the grand success. The voters voted for you to give you a chance for the uplift of Tvpm and our great country. May god bless you.
Comment by Sheikh — May 20, 2009 @ 6:16 am
In India due to foreign publicity Shashi Tharoor has a great image. A critical analysis reveals that Tharoor a reasonable intellect is a great opportunist. He has benefitted quite a bit from his marriage to Christa Giles. Giles needs to be researched in order to critically assess what Tharoor may be up to. His first wife the brilliant and cultured Indian Lady Tilottama can enlighten one more on Tharoor. Tilottama was surely better looking than Giles and also a greater intellect than Shashi.
Raj Menon, U.K
Comment by Raj Menon — May 28, 2009 @ 1:31 am
In India due to foreign publicity Shashi Tharoor has a great image. A critical analysis reveals that Tharoor a reasonable intellect is a great opportunist. He has benefitted quite a bit from his marriage to Christa Giles. Giles needs to be researched in order to critically assess what Tharoor may be up to. His first wife the brilliant and cultured Indian Lady Tilottama can enlighten one more on Tharoor. Tilottama was surely better looking than Giles and also a greater intellect than Shashi.
Raj Menon, U.K.
Comment by Raj Menon — May 28, 2009 @ 2:06 am
Congratulations Dr.Tharoor for being elected as the MP representing Trivandrum and selected as one of the union ministers of my great nation, India. We are expecting a lot from you as an MP and a minister of the great nation. I believe you can do a lot for the nation under the honorable leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh, one of the top economists in the world. Your experience in UN would help to deal with foreign leaders, but knowing local problem has its own importance too. I know for sure that the natives of Trivandrum want to see changes. People of Kerala are good to elect the right people and they are good to punish them as well. We’ve seen this trend several years, especially in local politics. People of Kerala like to see productive actions from their political leaders to get our State up to World Class level than glittering, charming, and charismatic speeches!
Comment by Simon, US — June 13, 2009 @ 12:04 am
Excellent ideas.
The management philosophy emanating from the West is based on the lure of materialism and on a perennial thirst for profit, irrespective of the quality of the means adopted to achieve that goal. This phenomenon has its source in the abundant wealth of the West and so ‘management by materialism’ has caught the fancy of all the countries the world over, India being no exception to this trend. My country, India, has been in the forefront in importing these ideas mainly because of its centuries old indoctrination by colonial rulers, which has inculcated in us a feeling that anything Western is good and anything Indian, is inferior. Gita does not prohibit seeking money, power, comforts, health. It advocates active pursuit of one’s goals without getting attached to the process and the results.
The result is that, while huge funds have been invested in building temples of modem management education, no perceptible changes are visible in the improvement of the general quality of life – although the standards of living of a few has gone up. The same old struggles in almost all sectors of the economy, criminalization of institutions, social violence, exploitation and other vices are seen deep in the body politic.
Comment by bhattathiri — June 27, 2009 @ 4:03 am
Dear Dr. Tharoor,
Congratulations for becoming an M.P. from Thiruvananthapuram Constituency and becoming the a Deputy Minister of External Affairs in the latest Manmohan Singh Ministry. I do agree that India should aim for becoming a Developed Nation at the earliest but not at the expense National Feeling. There is no point in training youngsters on new Management Techniques who do not have a sense of National Belonging. Such trainings are more beneficial to International Community rather than Indian Community ,that too at the expense of Indian Funding. This is happening in other areas of education also.
The prime reason for this catastrophe is the educational system prevailing in India. We are very much bothered about our wards being turned into professionals, engineers ,doctors and the like, without imparting any training to them to become an “Indian” in the first place. Majority of the students are never exposed to the “The Rights , Duties & Responsibilities ” of an Indian Citizen as part of their educational curriculum ,due to which they never get an opportunity to become a “True Indian” at the end of their basic educational career. This anomaly has to be rectified immediately and proper courses have to be compulsorily included in the curriculum of all streams of education to make a “Loyal & Proud Indian” out of every student/youngster.
Though Education & HR doesn’t come directly under your jurisdiction , I hope, you can influence the concerned Ministry to implement and strive for the necessary change in the attitude of “Student community” & “Younger Generation” of India.
With warm Regards,
Karol Sivaramakrishnan Nair.
Comment by Karol Sivaramakrishnan Nair — July 10, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Comment by he is the herooooooooooooooooooooooooo — August 11, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
Really impressive.A must for all critics
A Talk with Dr Shasi Tharoor by Russel Warren Howe
Russell Warren Howe is the author of 22 books of history, biography, investigative journalism, travel, fiction, and humor. He is finishing his memoirs.
A Talk with Shashi Tharoor
Russell Warren Howe
Speculation is beginning at the United Na¬tions as to who will be chosen as secretary general at the end of this year to replace Kofi Annan of Ghana. For five—or perhaps, like Annan, ten—years, the successor will head an organization of 191 states facing unprecedented threats of warfare—nuclear, biological, religious, or “terroristic.”
Because of Annan’s ten-year steward¬ship, it seems safe to predict that it will not be Africa’s turn again. The United States would veto a Chinese or a Russian; Russia and China would veto an American and, probably by extension, a Canadian. Euro¬peans have held the post so often that they can probably be counted out.
Possible candidates from Japan or South Korea might be seen as too close to the United States. An Arab candidate ac¬ceptable to Washington would probably be unacceptable to the Arab world in general. It would seem to be South Asia’s turn, and an obvious frontrunner is an under secretary general who has skillfully avoided making enemies.
Shashi Tharoor of India has, like Annan, spent his entire career with the United Na¬tions. He has had a rapid rise in the organi¬zation. At 25, he was appointed to head the Singapore office of the U.N. High Commis¬sioner for Refugees, dealing with a flood of Vietnamese “boat people.” But had it not been for political violence in India at two crucial moments in his youth, he would probably not have joined the United Na¬tions at all; he might have ended up instead as India’s ambassador to the organization or in major capitals.
Tharoor is multilingual, the author of six books of fiction and nonfiction; he was presciently named a “Global Leader of To¬morrow” by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 1998. His most re¬cent book, a biography of the late Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was dedi¬cated to his friend Kofi Annan. His satirical fiction The Great Indian Novel (1989) and his study India: From Midnight to the Millennium (1997) are his two best-known works and led to his receiving the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. Witty and urbane, and with a carefully considered approach to the secre¬tary general’s role, Tharoor—who is now the 50-year-old under secretary general for com¬munications and public information—looks like the sort of secretary general who might well bear comparison one day to the mas¬terful Annan and the Scandinavian icons, Trygve Lie and Dag Hammarskjöld.
Tharoor lives in Manhattan with his wife and their twin sons. The following con¬versations took place by phone and fax.
RWH: You were born in London in 1956. Perhaps you could explain the cir¬cumstances. Your U.N. bio sheet says you were educated in India and at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
ST: My father, Chandran Tharoor, who had come to England as an 18-year-old stu¬dent in 1948 and stayed on to work, was the locally recruited London office manager of the Indian newspaper The Statesman, all of whose senior managers in India were Britons. He never thought of himself as an immigrant and was biding his time for the
Copyright © World Policy Institute
right opening in India, which meant the re¬tirement of a Briton. The Briton heading the Bombay office of The Statesman retired in 1958, and my father promptly moved back home. I went to school in Bombay and then, when my father moved to the paper’s head office in Calcutta as advertisement manager, finished my schooling there. But Calcutta, caught in the grip of Maoist—“Naxalite”— violence in the early 1970s, was no place to pursue higher studies, so I went to college at St. Stephen’s in Delhi. I then won a scholarship to the Fletcher School. I finished three degrees in three years—the M.A., the
M.A.L.D. (that’s Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy), and the Ph.D. I defended my doctoral thesis the month after my twenty-second birthday. I’m told that is still a Fletcher record, though it’s of little other than curiosity value!
RWH: St. Stephen’s sounds like an An¬glican institution, presumably introduced under the Raj.
ST: St. Stephen’s is indeed an Anglican institution, founded in 1881 by the Cam¬bridge Brotherhood. In my days, 1972–75, we still had surviving Cantabrigian legacies, including “gyps” [short for gypsies—ser¬vants] to assist those of us who were “in res¬idence.” To complete the picture, the two schools I attended before college, Campion in Bombay and St. Xavier’s in Calcutta, were both run by Jesuits.
RWH: Was Ed Gullion still directing the Fletcher School when you were there? When I was the Washington Post’s staff corre¬spondent in Africa, Ed was Kennedy’s am¬bassador to the Congo. On two occasions, he invited me to address his students about Africa.
ST: Yes, Ed was Dean through my three years there. I remember when you addressed a group of us when we were visiting Wash¬ington in early 1976. I asked you a question and prefaced it by expressing admiration for the fortnightly column on Washington which you were then writing for The States¬man, my father’s paper, to the general aston¬
ishment of all present, no doubt including yourself.
RWH: Indeed. Your father’s attachment to The Statesman would suggest that yours is a West Bengali family.
ST: No, my family is not from West Bengal. Both my parents were born in vil¬lages in Kerala’s Pelghat district. We are migrant Malayalis, as Keralites who speak Malayalam are called.
RWH: Like Kofi Annan, whom I first met in 1959, when he was a student in Ku¬masi, in Ashanti, you have made your entire career with the U.N. rather than with a na¬tional diplomatic service. Perhaps you could expand on the reasons.
ST: Like almost everybody else in those days at St. Stephen’s, I had had every in¬tention of taking the national civil service exams in India, and my aim was indeed to join the Indian Foreign Service. But just as I was about to go to Fletcher, prime minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India and suspended the political free¬doms I had grown up to take for granted. Indeed, one of my short stories was banned in the first week of the emergency. It was a profoundly disillusioning period for young idealists. I went into my thinking about this in India: From Midnight to The Millenni¬um. So I chose not to take the exams and to do a doctorate instead. The United Nations was always an appealing alternative, since like Kofi Annan I believed that my country would prosper only within a well-ordered and just world, which I could help to main¬tain through serving the U.N.
RWH: Apart from Kofi Annan, what other U.N. heavyweights have influenced you? Sir Brian Urquhart, Hammarskjöld’s right-hand man?
ST: I did get to know Brian extremely well, but only after his retirement, so his in¬fluence was one of example rather than di¬rect professional contact. I’ve been privi¬leged to work with several remarkable U.N. officials, beginning with Virendra Dayal of India, who first encouraged me to apply to
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and who ended his career as chef de cabinet to Secretary General Pérez de Cuéllar. There was Tom Luke of Australia, a survivor of Hitler’s genocide program, who fled com¬munism in his native Czechoslovakia as a refugee and then spent his adult life work¬ing for refugees through the U.N.; and Sir Marrack Goulding of the U.K., Sir Brian’s successor as head of peacekeeping at the end of the Cold War; and Kofi Annan himself, whom I first served as special assistant when he headed the department of peacekeeping operations; and the late Sergio Vieira de Mello, tragically killed in Baghdad in 2003, was a close friend and colleague.
RWH: Nehru was an aristocratic, secu¬lar socialist, influenced by Churchill’s old school Harrow and by Cambridge but suffi¬ciently “revolutionary” to reject gradualism and to spend about ten years in British pris¬ons. In what ways does this reflect a differ¬ence of personality between Nehru and Gandhi?
ST: There was a real difference, but don’t forget Gandhi spent just as long in prison. Their relationship was in many ways like that of father and son. Each saw the strengths and weaknesses of the other, but both allowed their affection for the other to prevail over any breach. Nehru, who was more the impatient radical, hot-headed in his socialism, and convinced his mentor was too conservative, too other-worldly, and too willing to compromise, was often tempted to rebel, but the Mahatma always brought him quickly to heel. In the end, Nehru nev¬er allowed his political radicalism to trump his loyalty to the Mahatma.
RWH: Churchill was an old-fashioned racist and seems to have had a particular animus against Indians. Yet Nehru and Churchill seem to me to have had many traits in common. Both were overbearing and politically bad-tempered. Like Chur¬chill and other “geniuses”—Picasso, Ein¬stein, Gandhi—Nehru was an inadequate husband and father. Do you agree?
ST: I hadn’t quite thought of them in that way, but I suppose you are right! To that list of similarities, one can add an ex¬traordinary way with the English language. Both wrote some of the finest political liter¬ature in English in the twentieth century. Both uttered some remarkable speeches of their own composition, often extempore, and both defined, through their words, a sense of their nations’ civilizational essence which inspired millions of their countrymen and countrywomen.
RWH: Gandhi was assassinated by a young Hindu fanatic because he had op¬posed partition and had announced that he would live the rest of his life in predomi¬nantly Muslim Pakistan. The Hindu-Muslim unity that Gandhi and Nehru so strongly supported seems to have fallen by the wayside. Is this just a passage in Indian history or a reflection of current world his¬tory, especially the pressure on the Pakistani government to identify with the Muslim “cause”?
ST: Hindu-Muslim unity has certainly not fallen by the wayside, as the most recent elections in India confirm. India today has a Muslim president, a non-Hindu [Sikh] prime minister, and seven Muslim cabinet ministers—in a country that is 82 percent Hindu. There was a rise in Hindu, anti-Muslim chauvinism in the last couple of decades, but this was never a majority view and it would seem to have been repudiated by the Indian electorate.
RWH: How do you see world events evolving over the next decade? As I see it, we live in a largely socialist or social-demo¬cratic world and most intellectuals are ag¬nostic. Golda Meir told me, in my 1971 interview with her for the Guardian, that she and over half her cabinet were atheists. But we have an American president who is a fundamentalist Christian, and a rather pious British premier with a zealously Ro¬man Catholic wife, trying to deal, rather heavy-handedly, with a Muslim world in effervescence and even—in the Middle
A Talk with Shashi Tharoor
East—monarchically theocratic. Is this a fair analysis?
ST: Perhaps, as far as it goes. But I do not personally believe that religion is the most important determinant of political behavior, even when political leaders are overtly religious themselves. Other factors and interests usually account for policy; reli¬gion merely explains the self-belief that ani¬mates some politicians.
RWH: You say religion “explains” their belief in themselves. Don’t you mean “cloaks”?
ST: No. Their belief in themselves comes from their religious faith. But, as I said, their religion doesn’t determine their policies; their political interests determine those.
RWH: What role do you see for the
U.N. in all this? It obviously has a very dif¬ferent role from the one it had when Roose¬velt invented it. How does a secretary gen¬eral find the right measure of diplomatic compromise and resolution? To put it in prep-school terms with which we’re both fa¬miliar, how does he try to please most of the 191 pupils, and especially the ten prefects and five superprefects, while also reminding them that he’s the headmaster? Or would you put even the question differently?
ST: I’m not sure that the prefects would agree that the secretary general is the head¬master! Many would prefer to see him more as secretary than general. He has an ex¬tremely difficult task, to serve both as the world’s premier diplomat and civil servant and, as the Economist has put it, a secular Pope. In many respects, he is limited by the policies agreed by the member states, and yet his position gives him a moral stature and a bully pulpit that he can use to influ¬ence directly some of those policies. Kofi Annan has walked the tightrope quite bril¬liantly, and he has “pushed the envelope” by such actions as sparking a worldwide debate on humanitarian intervention and urging the Security Council not to grant the U.S. a blanket exemption from international crimi¬
nal proceedings. But he has always had a re¬alistic sense of the limits of his power and authority and an appreciation of the impor¬tance of being able to work with the key member states. As he told me once, quoting what he said was an old Ghanaian proverb: “You don’t hit a man on the head if he has your fingers between his teeth.”
RWH: Before becoming assistant secre¬tary general in 2001 and under secretary general the next year, you were for four years executive assistant to the secretary general and then his director of communica¬tions. That’s a very sensitive post. Kofi An-nan does only written interviews with the print media. Television interviews are scripted in advance. I’ve done three inter¬views with Kofi Annan. In two of them, the spokesman did written answers, in the first person singular, for Annan’s approval. In the other, Ed Mortimer of Britain, to whom you passed the post of director of communica¬tions and speechwriter, answered the ques¬tions in Kofi Annan’s name on the phone, which permitted follow-ups. Would it be fair to say that the director of communica¬tions is someone whom the secretary general trusts to think and speak like the secretary general himself?
ST: The director has to try to echo both the views and the language. It’s certainly an unusually sensitive post.
RWH: In less than a decade from now, we’ll probably be able to fly from New York or London to Singapore in six hours. We can find information on the Internet in a few seconds. Is there a danger in rapid decision-making that didn’t exist in the days of the Ems Telegram, which launched the Franco-Prussian war of 1870–71, which led to World War I, which led to the treaty of Versailles, which led to Hitler and World War II and the Cold War?
ST: Yes, the CNN era has already demon¬strated the dangers of rapid decision-mak¬ing. The breakthroughs in satellite broad¬casting and the new transcendence of the global media coincided with the end of the
Cold War. So crises in places like the Bal¬kans and Somalia were thrust upon the TV screens of the developed democracies in real time. Television showed that action was needed, and the end of the Cold War meant that action was possible. So as the great clamor went up to a newly united Security Council to “do something” in a number of crises, member states found in peacekeeping the “something” the U.N. could do. Opera¬tions that one superpower or the other might not have agreed to establish in the old days were launched with self-congratula¬tory ease. United Nations peacekeeping was thrust into a breathtaking phase of rapid and profound evolution, with disastrous re¬sults. I recall one ambassador on the Securi¬ty Council saying: “I’ve just seen your gen¬eral saying such-and-such on CNN. Why haven’t you reported this to us?” The irony was that the general in question, filmed live at some hot spot, had not yet got back to his field headquarters to dispatch a report to the mission headquarters, which therefore had not sent a report to New York for us to digest and summarize for the Security Council.
RWH: I interviewed Gen. Colin Powell, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for the London Observer, in 1991, dur¬ing Desert Shield—the run-up to Desert Storm, the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq— and CNN was blaring from just behind Powell’s back for the whole time we were talking.
ST: The pressure to respond to the day’s media headlines has, all too often, driven bodies like the Security Council to make policy on the run. Many times since the ear¬ly 1990s, United Nations peacekeepers have intervened in crises without finding the time to elaborate, or agree upon, the doctri¬nal justifications, the conceptual issues, or the overall strategy behind each new man¬date or modification of mandate. In the con¬tinuing debate about whether peacekeeping operations belong properly under Chapter Six or Chapter Seven of the Charter, we have
often found ourselves at sixes and sevens. Sometimes there is virtue in the kind of re¬flective decision-making that is increasingly difficult in an era of short deadlines and even shorter attention spans.
RWH: A tightrope question, as you would call it. What do you see as the ideal solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and what are its chances of success? Security Council resolution 242?
ST: Security Council resolutions 242 and 338—which required the prompt im¬plementation of 242—remain the vital basis for a peaceful solution.
RWH: “242” called for a return to the November 1949 truce lines, with both countries living behind secure and defensi¬ble borders.
ST: And, for myself, I would add, living side by side in peace and prosperity.
RWH: Hugh Foot [Lord Caradon, who authored “242”] told me the line was “where the boys on both sides were one night when the firing stopped,” but that there would have to be some adjustments, because sometimes the line ran between someone’s house and his back garden. I re¬member he said, “I’m talking meters, not kilometers.”
ST: The “Road Map” promoted by the Quartet of the U.N., the U.S., the E.U. and Russia represents the best way forward. Of course, “242” and “338” must be the under¬lying basis.
RWH: Historically, isn’t a European set¬tler state, run more or less on apartheid lines, and founded in the Gandhian era of decolonization, destined to fail? Prime Min¬ister Sharon said that his “wall” was to “en¬sure security for our children and perhaps our grand-children.” As an historian, I found the word “perhaps” to be percipient, but none of the establishment media in America seemed to pick up on it.
ST
: The ideal solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is whatever both sides will accept and live with.
•
A Talk with Shashi Tharoor
Comment by pradep kumar — September 19, 2009 @ 2:39 pm
Shashi Tharoor is indeed one of the most educated and experienced politicians that India has now. The problem is that his peers are all but Hill Billies. Thats the reason he is running into controversies over his comments. I think he should learn to deal with the fellow politicians or opposition or whatever. They probably don’t even know what “Twitter” is, but they love to smear him on this issue. The public doesn’t understand what exactly he meant by saying “cattle class”, they take the literal meaning and cause a furore. I hope we can have better chemistry in the future. Tharoor should be there if India is to become a super power.
Comment by Rahul — February 10, 2010 @ 9:39 am
now, after many controversies including the last one- the Sunanda-IPL-tharoor nexus… we realise who really tharoor is. Anybody fells mistaken in voting tharoor?
Comment by saj — April 12, 2010 @ 8:05 pm
Hon Minister Shashi Tharoor is one of the popular Minister’s in the Government now. The lateest issue with regards to his relationship with a beautician has been linked with his political career. As Educated citizens of India we must understand that it is politrics used to tarnish the image of a versatile diplomat who is a successful minister in our current government. he has a very good future in the forthcoming tenures. We need to support him, He may marry third time or even more that is his personal issue. How many of indian political big wigs are having illicit relationships under cover. Does any bring them to be booked or are they highlighted. It is all a caption for the media and the political parties to divert attention until they get a new story….
Comment by john britto — April 13, 2010 @ 5:20 pm
15 May 2007
SHASHI & CHRISTA:
We don’t know whether congratulations are in order. We’ve known it for years but did not mention it. Now the not so secret affair is at last officially no secret anymore. Shashi Tharoor and Christa Giles, we were reliably informed, just married. When Shashi was leapfrogged by Kofi Annan to head the Department of Public Information and while still officially married, he moved Christa with him to that Department, installing her (with a promotion?) on the same tenth floor — just off the elevator (for ease of movement?). It was supposed to be hush-hush, but everyone in the Department was talking. No rules had been broken because technically they were not married, but it smacked of nepotism — although nobody was certain who had more influence: Christa or Christo. With a series of negative press reports on senior officials (Riza’s son; Nair’s week-end appointment of a female staffer from P-4 to D-2; Lubber’s sexual harassment case; Oil-for-Food, etc.), Tharoor’s own divorce proceedings and some staff speaking out, a transfer was arranged to the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management. She was given an assignment as Secretary of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean! Ms. Giles is a Canadian citizen and thus after the marriage her spouse can now stay in the USA legally. But he may have to think twice before attending the Renaissance Club in Hilton Head. With all other options exhausted, Dubai may be the most convenient exit. Actually, he may do very well as a hedge fund manager, provided he realizes that others also will have to make some profit.
http://www.unforum.com/UNinsiderMay07.htm
Comment by Push Maramon — April 20, 2010 @ 2:53 pm
Hello our beloved Mr.Sasi Tharoor, we are proud of you because world wide know who you are, that’s why you became the candidate of U.N, we Agreeing your Ability and Caliber but the Orthodox politicians trying to trap you on every words (they will do like this – they studied and following the politics this way)
we are thinking you are the leader (symbel) of moden Indian politics and giving you maximum support from youths
Dont worry about the present problems,we are expecting your come back,Mr.Manmohan singh & Mrs. Sonia Ghandi will bring back you – they knows who you are
Tito Varghese
Comment by Tito Varghese — April 20, 2010 @ 4:14 pm
We, especially, Keralites needs ministers like you. What we wish and prays, ministers should be like you. Thigs to be handled in its sincere way and standard. And not the way of double meaning cheap politics of politics. You are doing everything in practical, not in words. That is much disturbing old political leaders. Even, these old political leaders will not understand the meaning of your simple classical colloquial usages like ‘ cattle class’. If we will try to teach them the meaning, defenitely it will take 5 years. But during this gap, new political party will be come over in power. That is why, still kerala youths are used to scrabing their own heads, while asking questions at the time of interviews. Just see, other youngsters of outside countries. We have to think broad-mindedly. We have to handle the things at its top responsibility, and not to gain something from its. We like ministers like, K.B. Ganesh Kumar, M.K. Muneer … etc. and you are the number one in all these types of ministers, and what we kerala people is expecting is these type of ministers and their abilities. We all know well that, why you have forced to resign from the post of Deputy Minister of External Affairs. If we are talking about the problems of inviting an IPL team to kerala, we have to talk about the cases of, funding of Nayanar football tournament, Faris Abubacker cases, earnings of acting of politicians in film industry, Mayavati’s statue & garland cases, funding for marriage of Jayalalithas son, funding for election campaign, funding for channels, etc… All these are a big foul plays. And they trapped a sincere innocent man like you. May be you, the beginner in politics, dont know the way of these old much-experienced stars are playing. They can win inside the parliament, but can not able to won inside the hearts of ordinary people. But you sir, so lovely still in all our hearts. Industry will never be grow-up in kerala and even in India, if we are not chaning our visions and thinkings like this. please DONT BE SO DISAPPOINTED….you have to come back like a roaring lion with golden sword having sharp on both edges, ( hope you know well that why its both edges to be sharpened ) in your hand. WE, THE KERALITIES WILL GIVE YOU THAT SHARP EDGED SWORD FOR YOU…. because we need you… we are there for the care of you with hot votes, with a hope of you are there for us…… Jai Shashi Tharoor….. Jai India. … Jithesh, Kannur.
Comment by Jithesh — April 20, 2010 @ 6:01 pm
Well, Mr.Tharoor’s inexperience in the dirty so called ‘politics’ came out of the screen now! I’m sure he realized now that ’straight’ talks and actions are not effective in Indian politics. It may take some time for Mr. Tharoor to understand the ‘understorm’ of Hindustani lobbying, decayed, dramatized, unhealthy, and unethical waves spreading in the dirty political field. Indian politics is not UN politics. I have trust and faith in Mr. Tharoor. He is well qualified to be in the rank of a Cabinet Minister. And I’m hoping that he will not quit politics. We need ministers like Mr. Tharoor. I hope that his resignation is temporary. This may give Mr. Tharoor an opportunity to serve his constituents of Thiruvananthapuram. Take advantage of the opportunity Mr. Tharoor. You have a long way to go, and better opportunities are waiting for you. Keep an uncorrupted political life, the people from Kerala will be with you. We need educated and uncorrupted politicians.
Comment by Simon, US — April 21, 2010 @ 8:23 pm
I quite agree with Mr. Raj Menon’s comment on Shahi Tharoor being an opportunist. Many in the Indian community of New York were aware of his lousy character. While he was still married to Tillotamma, he used to bring his then girlfriend (later wife) Christa to their home and bedroom. He was a wife beater and used to control Tilotamma’s finances totally – she had to hand over her entire earnings to him and used to travel by the city bus while he had a shiny Merc for himself. I’m sure she had only tears of happiness when he finally left her.
Behind his cutlured and suave facade, he is a womaniser and wife beater.
Comment by Sam — April 21, 2010 @ 10:40 pm
Even a person with a small head could have figured out Tharoor. The man has no values or morals just because he speaks good English he can convince some naive people in India.
He should have never been made a minister in the first place, considering that he is dis-loyal. Example, he was moving with a rich-well-connected Jewish lady Giles while still married to his Indian wife. What does that tell you?
posted by Dr. Nagraj
Comment by Dr. Nagaraj — April 21, 2010 @ 11:27 pm
[...] But there are some serious issues regarding Mr Tharoor, especially because of his involvement in many controversies because of his view about Israel and Coca Cola. Many others believe he is an opportunist. The are still others who campaigns for him. [...]
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