Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday firmly stated that he will not accept the Veer Savarkar Award nor attend the event where it is to be presented. The Congress MP cited a lack of clarity about the nature of the award and the organisation presenting it as his reason for declining.
Tharoor, representing Thiruvananthapuram, said it was “irresponsible on the part of the organisers to announce my name without my having agreed to receive it.” He added that he first learned about the award on Tuesday, while in Kerala for local body elections, through media reports. He clarified that he had neither accepted the award nor been aware of it prior to the announcement. On social media platform X, he reiterated that attending the event or accepting the award does not arise in the absence of detailed information about it or the jury.
Earlier, Congress leader K Muraleedharan had stated that no party member, including Tharoor, should accept any honour in Savarkar’s name, claiming the ideologue “bowed before the British.” Muraleedharan said accepting the award would insult and embarrass the Congress party.
Following Tharoor’s statement, Aji Krishnan, secretary of the Highrange Rural Development Society India, which instituted the award, claimed that Tharoor had been informed well in advance and had asked for a list of other recipients. Krishnan suggested that the MP had not confirmed his attendance because the Congress had made the award an issue.
Kerala Law Minister P Rajeev said it is Tharoor’s personal decision whether to accept the award.
Tharoor was named one of the recipients of the inaugural ‘Veer Savarkar International Impact Award 2025’, organised by HRDS India in New Delhi. However, he has clearly stated that he will not participate in the ceremony.
