Earlier today Hamas released 20 hostages – captured during the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – in two batches.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has raised his eyebrows over the decision to send junior External Affairs Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh to represent the country at a peace summit in Egypt, where heads of states from 20 countries are expected to gather to discuss the end of the war in Gaza.
Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas will be in attendance, as will US President Donald Trump – who has claimed credit for the ceasefire and hostage exchange deal – and the UK’s Keir Starmer.
An invitation was extended to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but his decision to skip the event “stands in stark contrast” to that of other world leaders to travel to Egypt, Tharoor said on X.
“Strategic restraint or missed opportunity?” he asked, confessing himself ‘puzzled’ by the decision to not have the PM present for a security summit in India’s neighbourhood.
“This is no reflection on Kirti Vardhan Singh, whose competence is not in question. But, given the galaxy of grandees present, India’s choice could be seen as signaling a preference for strategic distance our statements don’t convey,” Tharoor, also an ex-junior External Affairs Minister, said.
India’s presence at the Sharm el-Sheikh Gaza peace summit, at the level of a Minister of State, stands in stark contrast to the heads of state gathered there. Strategic restraint or missed opportunity?
This is no reflection on Kirti Vardhan Singh, whose competence is not in…
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 13, 2025
The Egypt summit, formally called the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit, is being hosted by Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. It is to be co-chaired by Sisi and Trump, and will hope to bring a lasting solution to the Israel-Gaza problem.
Earlier today Hamas released 20 hostages – captured during the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – in two batches. Seven were released to representatives of Red Cross in the first and 13 in the second. Simultaneously, Israel released Palestinians from a prison in the West Bank region.
Meanwhile, Tharoor’s question marks over the decision have been seen as slightly in opposition to recent positive remarks about Prime Minister Modi and his administration, remarks that have irritated the Congress and seemed to put his relationship with the party at a crossroads.
Tharoor-Congress ties – uncertain since 2021, when he joined a group of ‘dissenters’, i.e., the G-23, and questioned the Gandhis’ leadership – have taken a sharp downturn recently.
The Congress expressed its unease over positive comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which were amplified after he was chosen to brief ‘partner nations’ on Pahalgam and Op Sindoor.
Tharoor has acknowledged differences between himself and the Congress; he even met Rahul Gandhi, but nothing seemed to come of that meeting.
Speaking to NDTV last month, he played down, again, any talk of friction with the party, calling such incidents “differences of opinion… with only some elements of leadership”.
When NDTV asked him how he would define his relationship with the Congress today, he pointed out he had been loyal to the party and its ideology for the last 16 years.
