India has a PM who can hug both Putin and Zelenskyy and be accepted: Shashi Tharoor lauds Modi's foreign policy

Tharoor, an MP from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, also expressed his confidence in India's capabilities in forming a lasting peace in the war, which the US government under the Trump era is working to end.

Chewing his own words, Tharoor said, "I am still wiping the egg off my face because I am one person in the parliamentary debate who actually criticised the Indian position at the time back in February 2022."

"Clearly, the policy has meant that India has a Prime Minister who can hug both the President of Ukraine (Volodymyr Zelenskyy) and the President in Moscow (Vladimir Putin) two weeks apart and be accepted in both places," he added, speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi on Tuesday.

"India is in a position where it can make a difference to a lasting peace if it was so required in ways that very few countries would be able to," the senior MP, who has remained a diplomat in the past, said.

During his inaugural visit to the US in February after Donald Trump returned to the White House, Prime Minister Modi asserted India is "not neutral" in the Russia-Ukraine war in contrary to the popular belief but it is in favour of one side, that is "peace".

Shashi Tharoor lauded Modi's US visit

In contrast to his party's reactions to Modi's US visit in February, Tharoor had lauded the Prime Minister's meeting with US President Donald Trump saying he was "encouraged" by the outcome of the bilateral engagement.

Speaking to ANI, Tharoor had said, "The press statements by both the Prime Minister and President Trump are very encouraging because it looks like some of the big concerns we all had have been addressed, for example on the question of trade and tariffs. They have decided to sit down together and do a serious negotiation that would conclude by the fall which is September-October of this year.

"I think that's a very good outcome because otherwise the fear was there might be some hasty decisions made in Washington which would have affected our exports. This way there is time to discuss and negotiate. I welcome that."

Tharoor, who is the country's former Minister of State for External Affairs, had said the US' promise to sell F-35 stealth aircraft will further embolden India's defence sector.

"On the defence front, the commitment to sell us F-35 stealth aircraft is very valuable because that's the state-of-the-art aircraft and certainly, we already have the Rafale and now with the F-35, the Indian Air Force should be in very good shape. So if we look at the main issues that we have heard about so far, I am very encouraged," the Thiruvananthapuram MP had said.

"It looks to me as if we have got pretty much all that we could have expected at this time."