English transcript

May I ask you one final question on this which is that

do you sense based on the last week have we tilted too far towards

placating the Israel-American axis at the cost of Iran?

Do you believe that we need to therefore maintain a much tighter balance given

our interests in the region or do you believe that we need to be seen to be the...

with the winning side as some call it with the more powerful side,

do you believe that we've tilted far too much towards Israel and America or not?

Well we have not applauded this action, we have not endorsed this action.

Uh so in that sense...

Or we've not condemned it either.

We have not condemned it either. Similarly we have kept open lines of communication to Iran

and and we have expressed a hope that that matters will be resolved very quickly.

Uh that seems to be the choice that we have made. Now you could ask yourself

why not condemn it? The question is if we condemn it

what good does it do to Iran? Are we going to send them weapons? We are not.

Are we going to support them in the conflict? We are not.

So the condemnation is cheap, it's words.

But in the process do we lose leverage over the West? Do we lose leverage over the US?

Look at other countries in an analogous situation and the silences they've kept.

Uh I mean you have to understand Rajdeep...

academics, journalists and outsiders can always take a stand of principle.

I have articulated the principles for you.

But as a government, what does the Indian government need to do

to ensure that there are no consequences from the stand it takes

for the people of India and the interests of India.

If I were in government or advising government, those are the questions that would be uppermost in my mind too.

So I find it difficult uh to sit here outside the government

and say I want the government to say all these things because the government then has to live with the consequences

and if the consequences are we get 50% sanctions again on India

then my job as opposition would be to say look at this hopeless government they've given us 50% sanctions once more.

So you have to understand governments make choices all the time

and and we uh as an alternative party of government

we also have to think about what we would do if we were in power.

Okay. I think there's a message in what you've said both for the government and indeed

for your own party and the opposition but Shashi Tharoor for joining me

uh ahead of your 70th birthday, I know you turn 70 on the 9th of March.

I don't want to remind you about that but I know that

uh you've got a big couple of days coming up.

I've just been launching Dr. Karan Singh's biography

and he turns 95 on the 9th of March.

So we have a a quarter of a century between us and it's been fascinating. It's a great date.

And since you're a cricket fan uh I believe the wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel also shares that birthday with us.

Well speaking about cricket and and Shashi Tharoor at the moment Sanju Samson

is probably the most popular uh Thiruvananthapuramite

if I may call it ahead of you Dr. Tharoor and I hope that uh...

I'm happy to yield place to him. Let him continue earning that on Sunday too.

Okay. Thank you very much. Shashi Tharoor for joining me here on the news today.

All the best. Thanks Rajdeep.