Member of Parliament - Lok Sabha
Born: 9 March 1956
Profession: Writer, Diplomat, Politician
Affiliation(s): Indian National Congress
Citizenship: Indian
Profile Shashi Tharoor (Malayalam: ശശി തരൂà´°്) (born 9 March 1956) is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala. He previously served as the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information and as the Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs. He is also a prolific author, columnist, journalist and a human rights advocate. He is the managing trustee of the Chandran Tharoor Foundation which he founded with his family and friends in the name of his late father, Chandran Tharoor. Childhood and education Shashi Tharoor was born in London to Lily and Chandran Tharoor, both Malayalis, hailing from the state of Kerala. Tharoor studied at Montfort School in Yercaud and Campion School in Mumbai. He attended high school at St. Xavier’s Collegiate School in Kolkata and obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. He went on to win a scholarship to study at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and earned three degrees in three years - a Ph.D. and two master's degrees at the age of 22, Tharoor is the youngest person in the history of the Fletcher School to be awarded a doctorate. His doctoral thesis, "Reasons of State", was a required reading in courses on Indian foreign-policy making. In 2000, Tharoor was awarded a honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Puget Sound and in 2008 he received a honorary doctorate degree by the University of Bucharest. Diplomatic career Beginning Shashi Tharoor's career in the United Nations began in 1978 as a staff member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. From 1981 to 1984 he headed the UNHCR office in Singapore during the boat people crisis. In 1989 he was appointed as the Special Assistant to the Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs, the unit that later became the Peacekeeping Operations in New York. Until 1996, he led the team responsible for peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia. Under-Secretary-General at the UN In 1996 Tharoor was appointed Director of Communications and Special Projects and as Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In January 2001, he was appointed as the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, and as the head of Department of Public Information (UNDPI). In this capacity, he was responsible for the communication strategy, enhancing the image and effectiveness of the UN. In 2003, the Secretary-General appointed him to the additional responsibility of United Nations Coordinator for Multilingualism. During his tenure at the UNDPI, Tharoor reformed his department and undertook a number of initiatives, ranging from organizing and conducting the first-ever UN seminar on anti-Semitism, the first-ever UN seminar on Islamophobia and launching an annual list of "Ten Under-Reported Stories the World Ought to Know About". On 9 February 2007, Tharoor resigned from the post of UN Under-Secretary-General on and left the UN effective 1 April 2007. Campaign for Secretary-General: 2007 In 2006, Tharoor was nominated by the Government of India for the post of UN Secretary General. Tharoor came a close second (behind Ban Ki-moon) in each of the four straw polls conducted by the UN Security Counciland won the online poll conducted by the BBC News website. After the fourth poll, Ban emerged as the only candidate with the support of all five permanent members, each of whom has the power to veto candidates. Of the seven contenders for the post, Tharoor remained the only other to enjoy a majority in the Security Council. One Permanent Member (later revealed to be the US under the Bush Administration) opposed and China abstained from voting. After the vote, Tharoor withdrew his candidacy expressing his confidence for Ban to win. Had he been elected, the then 50 year old Shashi Tharoor would have been the second-youngest Secretary-General to be appointed to the post. The first being Dag Hammarskjöld who was appointed at the age of 46 years. Post-UN career In February 2007, amidst rampant speculation about his post-UN future, it was presciently reported in the Indian press that Tharoor might be inducted into council of ministers of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Minister of State for External Affairs. In the same month, it was reported in an American gossip blog that Tharoor was a finalist for the position of dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication in Los Angeles, though he withdrew his name from consideration at the final stage. Instead, Dr. Tharoor—in addition to a variety of other activities in his private life— became chairman of Dubai-based Afras Ventures, which established the Afras Academy for Business Communication (AABC) in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. He also spoke widely around the globe about India and Kerala, the state where he spent increasing amounts of time before moving for good in October 2008. Political Career in India In March 2009, Shashi Tharoor contested the Indian General Elections in 2009 as Congress Party candidate from Thiruvananthapuram (Lok Sabha constituency) in Kerala. His opponents included P. Ramachandran Nair of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Neelalohitadasan Nadar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), M.P. Gangadharan of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and P. K. Krishna Das of Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP). Despite being criticized as an "elite outsider" he went on to win defeating his nearest CPI rival P. Ramachandran Nair by a margin of approximately 100,000 votes. Subsequently Shashi Tharoor was selected as Minister of State in the Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On 28 May 2009 he was sworn in as the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs. Tharoor's use of his political website (www.tharoor.in) and new media technologies like Twitter quickly earned him a celebrity status. He went on to become the first Indian celebrity to get 100,000 followers on Twitter. However, some of his tweets (or twitter posts) proved controversial and were quoted by the press and opposition parties to criticize his work. On 18 April 2010 Tharoor resigned from his post as Minister of State for External Affairs on instructions from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, following allegations that he had misused his office to get shares in the IPL cricket franchise of Cochin. Tharoor stoutly denied the charges and in his resignation speech called for a full inquiry. His position seems vindicated by the fact that there have been no adverse findings and no legal proceedings have been instituted against him[original research? On 2 May 2010, he was nominated to be a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for External Affairs by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. Literary career Tharoor has written numerous books in English. Most of his literary creations are centred on Indian themes and they are markedly “Indo-nostalgic.” Perhaps his most famous work is The Great Indian Novel, published in 1989, in which he uses the narrative and theme of the famous Indian epic Mahabharata to weave a satirical story of Indian life in a non-linear mode with the characters drawn from the Indian Independence Movement. His novel Show Business (1992) was made into the film 'Bollywood' (1994). The late Ismail Merchant had announced his wish to make a film of Tharoor’s novel Riot shortly before Merchant’s death in 2005. Shashi Tharoor with his wife Sunanda Pushkar during Dr.Batra's Book Launch Tharoor has been a highly-regarded columnist in each of India's three best-known English-language newspapers, most recently for The Hindu newspaper (2001–2008) and in a weekly column, “Shashi on Sunday,” in the Times of India (January 2007 – December 2008). Following his resignation as Minister of State for External Affairs, he began a fortnightly column on foreign policy issues in the "Deccan Chronicle". Previously he was a columnist for the Gentleman magazine and the Indian Express newspaper, as well as a frequent contributor to Newsweek International and the International Herald Tribune. His Op-Eds and book reviews have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, amongst other papers. His monthly column, "India Reawakening", distributed by Project Syndicate, appears in some 80 newspapers around the world. Tharoor began writing at the age of six and his first published story appeared in the “Bharat Jyoti”, the Sunday edition of the "Free press Journal", in Mumbai at age 10. His World War II adventure novel Operation Bellows, inspired by the Biggles books, was serialized in the Junior Statesman starting a week before his 11th birthday. Each of his books has been a best-seller in India. The Great Indian Novel is currently in its 28th edition in India and his newest volume.[when?] The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cellphone has undergone seven hardback re-printings there. Tharoor has lectured widely on India, and is often quoted for his observations, including, "India is not, as people keep calling it, an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay." He has also coined a memorable comparison of India's "thali" to the American "melting pot": "If America is a melting pot, then to me India is a thali - a selection of sumptuous dishes in different bowls. Each tastes different, and does not necessarily mix with the next, but they belong together on the same plate, and they complement each other in making the meal a satisfying repast. Personal life A theatre buff and successful actor in his school days, he played Antony to Mira Nair’s Cleopatra in a 1974 production of Antony and Cleopatra. At St. Stephen’s in the early 1970s he founded the Quiz Club, which is still in existence; he also revived the Wodehouse Society, which is no longer in existence. Upon election as President of the College Union he relinquished the Secretaryship of the History Society as well as the editorship of the campus humour magazine “Kooler Talk.” He was invited by St. Stephen’s College to deliver the college’s 125th Anniversary Jubilee Lecture in 2005. He has been an elected Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities and a member of the Advisory Board of the Indo-American Arts Council and also served on the Board of Directors of Breakthrough, an international human rights organization, the Board of Overseers of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute, and as an International Adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross. He also supported various educational causes, including as Patron of the Modern High School in Dubai. At the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1976, he founded and was the first chair of the editorial board of the Fletcher Forum of International Affairs, a journal examining issues in international relations. Tharoor has twin sons Ishaan and Kanishk from his first marriage to Tilottama Mukherji, an academic who he knew from school days in Calcutta. Both sons attended Yale University. Ishaan writes for Time magazine's international edition in Hong Kong, while Kanishk is an editor at Open Democracy in London. Ishaan has written a wide range of stories, including cover stories on Nepal and the Philippines. Kanishk is a journalist and also a writer of fiction, for which he was nominated for a US National Magazine Award in 2009. Later he was married to Christa, a Canadian working at the United Nations. After their divorce, Tharoor went on to his third marriage. Shashi Tharoor married Sunanda Pushkar in a quiet ceremony at his ancestral home in Elavanchery village in Kerala's Palakkad district on 22 August 2010. Controversies In September 2009, Tharoor and S M Krishna were accused of staying in luxurious 5-star hotels. Tharoor defended himself, saying that it was because of the delay in his official residence being ready and he only spent from his own pocket for the accommodation. Later on Pranab Mukherjee's request Tharoor and Krishna moved out of the hotels. A controversy erupted on a joke in which Tharoor, responding to the question as to whether he would travel in "Cattle Class", replied that he would do so. This remark on Twitter (@ShashiTharoor), the media claimed that he equated the travelling public to cattle and also taunted his party, the Indian National Congress over their austerity drive. It was also reported that Congress may take action against him. However this was subsequently resolved when the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointed out that it was a joke. Tharoor met his party leadership and offered them an explanation. Another controversy erupted on Gandhi Jayanti when he said people should be working rather than staying at home taking a holiday, thereby paying real homage to Mahatma Gandhi. Tharoor was in the news again for publicly criticizing the new visa guidelines adopted by the Indian Government in the wake of the gaps exposed by the arrest of 26/11 terror suspects, David Headley and Tahawwur Rana. For this,he was criticized for breaking ranks with the official position of the Government. He later met External Affairs Minister, SM Krishna and explained his position on the issue. The rules were subsequently partly modified. In January 2010, Tharoor was reported to have criticized Gandhi and Nehru for their vision on Indian foreign policy by the Indian media. This angered his party, the Indian National Congress. In the wake of this controversy, he held a press conference describing the report as "inaccurate" and "tendentious". He said, "irresponsible reporting may briefly gratify a few sensation-seekers in the media, but they do no credit to the need for informed discussion of foreign policy issues in our democracy. India deserves better. So, frankly, do I." In February 2010 when accompanying the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, he said "We feel that Saudi Arabia has a long and close relationship with Pakistan, that makes Saudi Arabia even more a valuable interlocutor for us. When we tell them about our experience, Saudi Arabia listens as somebody who is not in any way an enemy of Pakistan, but a friend of Pakistan and, therefore, will listen with sympathy and concern to a matter of this nature". He was asked whether India expected Saudi Arabia, given their close ties with Islamabad, to help address the terror threat from Pakistan. The remark about Saudi Arabia being a "valuable interlocutor" raised a strong reaction within the Indian political circle. The Pakistani press even went on to report that he had proposed that Saudi Arabia play a mediator's role in improving India's relationship with Pakistan. In response, Tharoor tweeted saying, "An interlocutor is someone you speak to. If I speak to you, you are my interlocutor. I mentioned the Saudis as our interlocutors, i.e. the people we are here to speak to". Main article: India – Saudi Arabia relations, section '2010 visit to Saudi Arabia by Manmohan Singh' In February 2010, a website called "Keralawatch" published an investigative report which alleged that Tharoor used incomplete records to enrol his name in the voter's list in Thiruvananthapuram constituency. Tharoor has not found it necessary to respond to this issue. Lalit Modi published the shareholders details of Kochi-IPL team's franchise owners, Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) group in his Twitter account[54] and also mentioned that he was asked by an influential Union Minister not to get into details of Sunanda Pushkar, who was given a sweat equity of approximately 4.5 per cent of total equity (estimated by the media to be worth Rs 70 crore) in Kochi IPL team. In an official statement, Tharoor denied having made any financial gains from the sale or having pressured Modi in any way. He further accused Modi of trying to delay and discredit the new owners so that the franchise can be re-awarded elsewhere. RSW protested Modi's breach of confidentiality agreement. Sunanda Pushkar also issued a statement denying being a proxy for Tharoor. Later amidst demands for his resignation from the Union Cabinet by the opposition parties, Sunanda Pushkar gave up the sweat equity offered to her by RSW. But IT department stated that she will have to pay income tax on her sweat equity in Rendezvous Sports World even after having given it up. Allegations that this was pay back for denying a request to not issue a visa to a South African model close to Lalit Modi have surfaced, and so have death threats to Shashi Tharoor by the Mumbai underworld. Under severe push from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee combine, the Congress core committee decided to ask for Tharoor's resignation..18 April 2010 Shashi Tharoor resigned from the post of Minister of State in MEA after calling for a full inquiry into the matter. An internet support site was set up by his admirers to collect pledges for the support of Shashi Tharoor on the same day. Honors, Awards and International Recognition 1976, Aged 20, Wins the Rajika Kripalani Young Journalist Award for the Best Indian Journalist under 30. 1990 – Wins the Federation of Indian Publishers' Hindustan Times Literary Award for the Best Book of the Year for The Great Indian Novel. 1991 – His book The Great Indian Novel wins the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Best Book of the Year in the Eurasian Region. 1998 – Awarded the Excelsior Award for excellence in literature by the Association of Indians in America (AIA) and the Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP). May 2000 – Conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in International Affairs by the University of Puget Sound 1998 – Named Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland 2009–Presented with the Hakim Khan Sur Award for National Integration by the Maharana of Udaipur. 2004 – Awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India’s highest honour for non-resident Indians. But did not accept it at the time owing to UN rules prohibiting acceptance of governmental honours. 2007 – Went on to accept the award after having resigned from the position of Under Secretary General at the UN.[64] 2008 – Conferred a Doctorate Honoris Causa by the University of Bucharest, Romania. 2009 – Awarded the Zakir Hussain Memorial "Pride of India" Award. 2009 – Awarded GQ's Inspiration of the Year Award at its Man of the Year Awards. 2010 – Awarded the Sarva Deshiya Prathibha award by the Pazhassiraja Charitable Trust, Kozhikode. March 2010 – Awarded "New Age Politician of the Year" Award by NDTV at its Indian of the Year awards. 2010 – Awarded the Fifth IILM Distinguished Global Thinker Award in New Delhi 2010 – Awarded Digital person of the year at the first ever Indian Digital Media Awards (IDMA) for popularising the digital medium in India. Bibliography Fiction Riot (2001) Show Business (1992) The Five Dollar Smile and Other Stories (1990) The Great Indian Novel (1989) Non-fiction Shadows Across the Playing Field: Sixty Years of India-Pakistan Cricket [with Shaharyar Khan] (2009) The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cell Phone: Reflections on India in the 21st Century (2007) Bookless in Baghdad (2005) Nehru: The Invention of India (2003) India: From Midnight to the Millennium (1997) Reasons of State (1982) ISBN 978-0-7069-1275-3 Illustrated books Kerala: God’s own country (2002) [with artist M.F. Husain] L'Inde (French) and India (English) (2008) [with photographer Ferrante Ferranti]
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