Tharoor’s Scathing Critique Of Trump Is From 2024 Jaipur Lit Fest In US, Not Op Sindoor Outreach Event

A 1-minute 19-second video claiming to show Congress MP Shashi Tharoor mocking US president Donald Trump in the US has gone viral on the heels of the visit by an all-party delegation led by Tharoor as part of India’s global outreach programme on Operation Sindoor. While Trump has repeatedly made several claims of brokering a truce between India and Pakistan, India has made it clear that the decision was bilateral and denied any US role in de-escalating tensions or linking trade to a ceasefire.

The archived version of the post can be seen here, which has clocked 396.5K views so far.

Fact Check

Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Shashi Tharoor mocking Trump”, which led us to this video uploaded by the Asia Society on Youtube, dated September 12, 2024, headlined “Jaipur Literature Festival 2024 | Shashi Tharoor: A Man for All Seasons”.

 “…Shashi Tharoor shares his ideas, sources of inspiration, and the various ways he interacts with the world with journalist Aroon Purie…,” read the description of the video, adding that it was from the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) in New York in 2024. The viral excerpt can be seen from the 12:51 mark, where it is clearly seen that Tharoor was talking about the then former US president and Republican presidential candidate Trump, while Joe Biden was still in office, after Purie asked Shashi Tharoor, “What do you think about Trump…”.  

A part of Tharoor’s response was what went viral with the false claim that it happened during the recent Operation Sindoor outreach event in New York, where he says: “Look, it’s not our place, especially since I have been introduced as a member of the Indian parliament and so on. I shouldn’t be commenting on political leaders in foreign countries on their soil. But, having said that, it’s also true that, you know, people have their political preferences. And mine is not a political preference. I don’t pay taxes here so I don’t care if they’re lower or higher …But just the personal manner strikes me as not entirely as agreeable or pleasant as one would like to see in a distinguished American political figure. I had the great honour of meeting four or five American presidents during my time in the US and having detailed conversations with both the Bushes with Clinton. Much briefly with Obama. I mean, these are people of a certain class, a certain distinction, and it is not politics. Two republicans on that list and two democrats. But there was a certain political heft, statesman-like gravitas and intellectual quality that I find woefully lacking in this gentleman.”

The Asia Society’s write-up on Tharoor’s interview can be seen here, dated September 10, 2024, while a Facebook post by Jaipur Literature Festival, dated September 11, 2024, can be seen here, further confirming that the viral video was shared out of context.

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Conclusion

Video of Shashi Tharoor criticising US president Donald Trump is from 2024 Jaipur Literature Festival in New York and not from India’s global outreach programme following Operation Sindoor.