‘Never Invited, Never Accepted’: Shashi Tharoor Refutes Organisers for Announcing Him as Savarkar Awardee
Congress MP publicly humiliates organisers over unsolicited honour.
Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday categorically rejected the “Veer Savarkar International Impact Award 2025”, declaring that he had never been approached, never consented, and only discovered his name on the recipients’ list through television tickers and newspaper headlines while campaigning in Thiruvananthapuram the previous day.
Taking to X and issuing a formal statement to the press in Delhi, the three-time Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram accused the awarding body of gross irresponsibility for publicly announcing him as an awardee without the elementary courtesy of prior intimation or acceptance, calling the move a blatant attempt to appropriate his name for publicity.
Tharoor underlined that no invitation letter, email, phone call or message detailing the organisation, its credentials, selection process or even the physical form of the award had ever reached him or his office, rendering the entire exercise unilateral and rendering any question of his presence at Wednesday evening’s ceremony completely irrelevant.
Also Read: Shashi Tharoor Attends Putin’s State Dinner While Rahul Gandhi and Kharge Snubbed
The high-profile event was scheduled at the NDMC Convention Hall in the national capital, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh slated to inaugurate the function and Jammu & Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha as a special guest, making the inclusion—and subsequent forced withdrawal—of Tharoor’s name particularly awkward for the organisers who had already circulated glossy invitations bearing his photograph.
Brushing aside persistent media queries despite his clarification in Kerala 24 hours earlier, Tharoor told PTI in Delhi, “I am not getting anything, I am not attending anything; I heard about this fictitious award only yesterday and that is the end of the matter,” delivering a public snub that has reignited debates over ideological compatibility between the Congress leadership and the legacy of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Also Read: Shashi Tharoor Introduces Bill to Criminalise Marital Rape in Lok Sabha
