‘Do what Vajpayee Sahib did’: Tharoor blasts Imran Khan for visiting Moscow amid Russian aggression

Shashi Tharoor, senior Congress leader, slammed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday for his visit to Russia amid Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, and cited the example of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who cut short a trip to China when China attacked Vietnam in 1979.

‘If @imrankhanPTI has any self-respect, he will do what Vajpayee Sahib did when China attacked Vietnam during his 1979 visit: he should cancel his trip immediately & go home. Otherwise, he is complicit in the invasion,’ Tharoor said.

The comment referred to the trip by Atal Bihari Vajpayee to China when he was minister for foreign affairs in the Morarji Desai government. Vajpayee ended his visit to China a day early in protest against China’s invasion of Vietnam. Visiting China for the first time since the 1962 war, Vajpayee’s visit marked a breakthrough in bilateral ties between the two countries.

Vladimir Putin held talks with Imran Khan on Thursday. Russia is keen on selling arms to Pakistan – a move it avoided in the past due to India’s opposition – and is exploring options to expand economic ties between the two countries. In the midst of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to ‘stop your troops from attacking Ukraine’ and other members of the UN Security Council calling for de-escalation, restraint, and diplomacy, the Russian leader announced the start of a military operation in eastern Ukraine.

Tharoor responded to the developments by tweeting, ‘So Russia is carrying out a regime change operation. How long can India, which has consistently opposed such interventions, stay silent? However much one appreciates Moscow’s legitimate security concerns, resorting to war is impossible to accept or justify. We should demand they stop,’ the former minister of state for external affairs said.

In tagging a quote from External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who said, ‘we are absolutely clear that we will not agree to any change in the status quo, any attempt to change the LAC unilaterally by one side’, Tharoor said in a tweet, ‘This should be our stand on Ukraine as well. Principles do not cease to be relevant depending on the identity of the invader’.