After Shashi Tharoor’s ‘don’t ask permission to fly’ post, Congress MP warns of ‘predatory birds’ on the hunt
The rumblings within the Congress over veteran party leader Shashi Tharoor’s stances refuse to die down. The four-time MP has once again posted a cryptic image with birds “don’t ask permission to fly” reference on X, apparently hitting out at his party members soon after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge slammed him saying it was “Modi first and country later” for “some people”.
Now, Congress MP Manickam Tagore has hopped onto the war of words with a post warning of “predatory birds” and “democracy in danger” dig. In a veiled reference to the BJP, Tagore remarked, “Freedom is not free, especially when predators wear patriotism as feathers.
Tagore’s post read, “Don’t ask permission to fly. Birds don’t need clearance to rise… But in today even a free bird must watch the skies—hawks, vultures, and ‘eagles’ are always hunting. Freedom isn’t free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers. #DemocracyInDanger #BirdsOfPrey.” The post featured six predatory birds: Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, American Kestrel, Turkey Vulture and Great Horned Owl.
Don’t ask permission to fly. Birds don’t need clearance to rise…
But in today even a free bird must watch the skies—hawks, vultures, and ‘eagles’ are always hunting.
Freedom isn’t free, especially when the predators wear patriotism as feathers. 🦅🕊️ #DemocracyInDanger… pic.twitter.com/k4bNe8kwhR— Manickam Tagore .B🇮🇳மாணிக்கம் தாகூர்.ப (@manickamtagore) June 26, 2025
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) June 25, 2025
The rift within the Congress party has been widening of late as Tharoor praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Operation Sindoor in an article published in a national newspaper. In a press conference held on Wednesday, Kharge responded to his article and said: “I can’t read English well. His (Tharoor’s) language is very good. That’s why we have made him a Congress Working Committee member.”
“But I want to say the people of the Opposition together are with the Army that is fighting (during Operation Sindoor). We (the Congress) said the country is supreme and we will work together for the country. We said ‘country first, party later’. Some people say ‘Modi first, country later’. What can we do about that,” Kharge said.
When posed with the question whether the Congress would refrain from taking action against Tharoor, Kharge said: “Why to be scared? It is our party, we are there. There are nearly 34 working committee members, 34 permanent invitees, nearly 30 special invitees. Now he is speaking as per his own wish. No need to repeat that again and again. Our concern is how to save the country. If somebody is concerned about something else, you can ask him about that.”
The rupture within the grand old party became further clear after the MP told reporters in his constituency that he had not been invited to campaign for the Nilambur bypoll. He mentioned the “misunderstandings” between the party and him and how, when he was abroad, “they engaged in arguments without understanding what I had said”.
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Tharoor, who led a multi-party delegation for a five-nation visit, has irked the party by claiming that the Army had breached the Line of Control between India and Pakistan for the first time to “conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launch pad… (after) the Uri strike in September 2016” and that it was “something we had not done before”.
The Congress hit back, reminding Tharoor about surgical strikes under the UPA government and suggesting that the BJP should name him “super spokesperson”. Before he went on the tour, the Congress had been unhappy about his public comments since Operation Sindoor, and, in one instance, said he had crossed the “lakshman rekha (red line)”.
