NEW DELHI: Congress and Shashi Tharoor have been associated for 16 long years. But of late, the Thiruvananthapuram MP seems to be bringing more cheers to the rival BJP than his own party Congress. And what’s more, Tharoor seems to be pushing the boundaries with every new “statement” he makes.In the last 6 months, there have been several instances when Tharoor’s critical remarks have become fodder for the BJP to attack the Congress. Whenever Tharoor speaks – the Congress ducks for cover while BJP cites his views to school the grand old party. From lessons in nationalism to global diplomacy to now Emergency – the pattern has been the same since January this year.It all started with Tharoor’s surprise “out-of-turn” praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his foreign policies. Pulwama terror attack and government’s Operation Sindoor – saw Tharoor making several remarks that was at variance with the official stand taken by the Congress. When party president Mallikarjun Kharge, irked perhaps by the repeated embarrassments, took swipes at Tharoor, the Thiruvananthapuram MP decided to respond with cryptic posts targeting the Congress chief.Now, the latest flashpoint between Tharoor and the Congress has reached the doors of the Gandhi family. The Thiruvananthapuram MP’s critical observations on Emergency targets former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and also her son Sanjay Gandhi. For everyone in the Congress, except the Gandhis, this is a “no-go” area. But that has not deterred Tharoor from speaking his mind – which perhaps is now a norm rather than exception.In an article published in Malayalam daily ‘Deepika’ on Thursday, Tharoor termed Emergency “a dark chapter” in India’s history and recalled Indira Gandhi’s son Sanjay Gandhi’s notorious acts, including forced sterilisation campaigns and the merciless demolition of slums in New Delhi. He also stated that today’s India is not the India of 1975.“The excesses of that period caused deep and lasting damage to countless individuals. Among the affected communities, it left behind fear and mistrust. Following the Emergency, in the first free election held in March 1977, the people responded clearly—voting Indira Gandhi and her party out of power by a large margin,” the Congress MP wrote in the article.“Sanjay Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi, led forced sterilisation campaigns, which became a notorious example of this. In poor rural areas, violence and coercion were used to meet arbitrary targets. In cities like New Delhi, slums were mercilessly demolished and cleared. Thousands of people were rendered homeless. Their welfare was not taken into consideration,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP stated.Tharoor went on to write that the silencing of dissent, the curtailment of fundamental rights such as the freedom to assemble, write, and speak freely, and the blatant disregard for constitutional laws left an enduring scar on Indian politics.Clearly, these views echo what Congress’s rivals have said all along about Emergency. Little wonder, the BJP was once again quick to use Tharoor’s views as a weapon to target the Congress and the Gandhis.This is what BJP national spokesperson R P Singh said in praise of the Thiruvananthapuram MP: “Whatever Shashi Tharoor wrote is absolutely right. We must take lessons from the Emergency. During that time, the media was suppressed, the judiciary was muzzled, and people had no freedom to express their views. This authoritarian impulse still exists in the Congress — remember how Rahul Gandhi once tore up Ordinances publicly, and Sonia Gandhi still exercises backroom influence. Tharoor’s article is a reminder of how far we’ve come. Today, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the people enjoy complete freedom and India is moving forward.”There have been several instances in the last 6 months when the BJP has used Tharoor’s remarks to slam the Congress, especially the Gandhis. The Congress initially tried to warn Tharoor for speaking against the party line, but eventually hardened its stand with Kharge taking swipes at his MP for putting “Modi first” instead of “India first.” The Congress leaders have been unsparing in their attacks on Tharoor – branding him a “super BJP spokesperson.”As expected, Tharoor’s Emergency attack on the party evoked a sharp retort from the Congress. Interestingly, there was also an element of continuity in this counter-attack.Congress leader Manickam Tagore, who is party MP from Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu and the party’s whip in Lok Sabha posted on X, “When a Colleague starts repeating BJP lines word for word, you begin to wonder — is the Bird becoming a parrot? Mimicry is cute in birds, not in politics.”Tagore’s use of “bird” analogy to attack Tharoor had a context. Last month, when Kharge took a jibe at Tharoor and said Congress believes in the “country first” mantra but for some, it is “Modi first and country later”, the Thiruvananthapuram MP put out a cryptic post on X with an image of a bird and a caption: “Don’t ask permission to fly. The wings are yours. And the sky belongs to no one …”A day later, Tagore responded to this Tharoor dig at party and said: “Don’t ask permission to fly. Birds don’t need clearance to rise … But in today even a free bird must watch the skies — hawks, vultures, and ‘eagles’ are always hunting.”“Freedom isn’t free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers,” Tagore further said in his post. To drive home his point, he had shared a chart with the list of birds known as “hunters of the sky”.There is no doubt that Tharoor and Congress are drifting apart. The Emergency article signals that perhaps they have reached a point of no return.