A political row has triggered in Kerala over the speech made by Congress Working Committee member Shashi Tharoor at a rally organised by Congress ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Kozhikode on Thursday in solidarity with Palestine.

In his speech as chief guest at the rally, Tharoor referred to Hamas as a ‘terror outfit’ and called the rally it launched against Israel on 7 October a “terrorist act”. The reference drew onstage criticism from IUML leaders, MK Muneer, MLA, and Abdussamad Samadani. Following this, Tharoor faced intense attack from a section of CPI-M leaders and pro-Hamas groups.

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In a Facebook post, CPI-M state secretariat member M Swaraj alleged that Tharoor had used the IUML’s public platform to relay his solidarity with Israel. “Mr. Tharoor appeared to imply somewhat reductively that the incendiary Palestine problem had its genesis in Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7. And the current genocidal attacks on the besieged people of Palestine were Israel’s legitimate response. Mr. Tharoor seemed pointedly disinclined to term Israel a terrorist nation”, wrote Swaraj.

CPI-M’s independent MLA and former minister KT Jaleel said the IUML rally seemed to express solidarity with expansionist and imperialistic Israel and its backers instead of solidly rallying behind the tyrannised and terrorised people of Palestine.

CPI-M state secretary M V Govindan seemed to have taken a relatively softer line. He said since Tharoor clarified that he was with Palestine it needed to be considered.

IUML leader M K Muneer, apparently upset over Tharoor calling Hamas a “terrorist outfit” has justified Hamas terrorism as “resistance”.

“When Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose fought for the freedom of the country, it was recorded in British history as an act of terrorism and extremism. In Gaza, the fight of Palestine for freedom would be an act of terrorism in the eyes of imperialist forces. But the children in Gaza now say they were offering namaz not five times a day, but six times. The children say every day they have ‘janaza’ (funeral prayer). The fight of Palestine is a freedom struggle and that of Israel is genocide. We are with that defence of Palestine. We should be able to differentiate between resistance and attack,” Muneer said

Mr. Tharoor found some support from BJP leader and actor Suresh Gopi, who termed Hamas a terrorist organisation inimical to the welfare of Palestinians. While justifying Tharoor’s remark on Hamas, he accused him of playing a vote-bank politics.

BJP state president K Surendran took a harsher line against Tharoor and the IUML.  He alleged that the Congress and the IUML were justifying terrorist outfit Hamas for vote bank interest.

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor slammed his opponents for spreading the message that he was a supporter of Israel. He said he has always been with the people of Palestine and that he does not agree with the propagation of just one sentence from his speech, which he made at the IUML rally.

The Congress leader said some quarters had cherry-picked his speech to inject parochial politics into a global humanitarian cause. The address was solidly and unequivocally pro-Palestine when viewed in its entirety.

IUML national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty sought to end the controversy over the speech of Tharoor. He welcomed Tharoor’s clarification and said provincial politics had no bearing on the IUML’s decision to rally public opinion in favour of Palestine’s oppressed, starved, and terrorised people.

Addressing the rally, Tharoor urged Israel to put an end to the war on Gaza by hearkening on a message of peace, coexistence and brotherhood’ from Kerala, the only land in the world that never discriminated against the Jews.

He further said that the death toll in the latest bout of crisis in the last 19 days is more than the casualty that took place in the last 15 years. “Around 1,400 Israelis and 6,000 Palestinians have been killed so far. The West Bank region had not witnessed any terrorism. However, 102 Palestine people and one Israeli were killed,” he said.