UK Travel Policy: Tharoor Pulls Out of UK Event; Jairam Says 'Smacks of Racism'

The events that the MP has withdrawn from include a debate at the Cambridge Union.

Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor.

(Photo: PTI)

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday, 20 September, said that he has pulled out of a book launch function after the United Kingdom (UK) government changed rules for Indian travellers.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP in a tweet said, "Because of this I have pulled out of a debate at the @cambridgeunion & out of launch events for the UK edition of my book #TheBattleOfBelonging (published there as #TheStruggleForIndiasSoul). It is offensive to ask fully vaccinated Indians to quarantine. The Brits are reviewing!"

Tharoor shared a link that said, "UK government confirmed tonight that if a person has been vaccinated in Africa, or South America, or countries including UAE, India, Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, Russia, you are considered 'unvaccinated' and must follow 'unvaccinated' rules = 10-day home quarantine & tests."

Tharoor's office in Delhi said that he is in Kerala and did not share his itinerary.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh termed the UK travel policy bizarre. In a tweet he said, "Absolutely bizarre considering Covishield was originally developed in the UK and The Serum Institute, Pune has supplied to that country too! This smacks of racism."