Kozhikode: In contrast to what many leaders in his party refuse to do, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called Hamas a terrorist group at a Palestine solidarity rally organised by Congress ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Kozhikode on Thursday.
Tharoor, who was handpicked by IUML as a keynote speaker, was the chief guest at the Palestine solidarity rally in Kozhikode. The charismatic leader's being chosen as chief guest came as a surprise as the Congress ally bypassed prominent faces of the party’s state leadership, considering his knowledge of national and international politics.
Tharoor, however, said Israel's attack cannot be justified. "The war violations are taking place in Gaza. The death toll in the last 16 days is greater than the conflict that took place in the last 15 years. As many as 1,400 people died in Israel and 6,000 in Palestine. International laws have been violated," he said.
At the rally, Muslim League state president Panakkad Sayyid Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal said that those who stand with Israel are collaborating with terrorism. "Israel is the biggest terrorist country in the world. India was a country that opposed the occupation of Palestine since 1947. From Nehru to Manmohan Singh, India was with the Palestinian people. Even the Vajpayee government was against Israeli occupation," he said.
At the same venue, senior IUML leader and party MLA M K Muneer, apparently took a dig at Tharoor. Since the Isreal-Hamas broke out in the Middle East, both Congress and CPI(M) in Kerala acted cautiously avoiding apparent statements on the issue.
Both parties took cognisance of the visible ‘pro-Palestine’ sentiments in the state. CPI(M) central committee member K K Shailaja's dubbing the Hamas as terrorists landed her in trouble. Ultimately, she had to drop the 'terror' tag from Hamas.
