Tharoor targets Centre for ‘not congratulating’ Indian-origin Nobel Peace Prize winner: ‘Shame on petty men’

A former UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, a South African-born jurist of Tamil descent, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year. 

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Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor criticised the Centre over what he described as the government's ‘lack of acknowledgement’ of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Navi Pillay, a South African-born jurist of Tamil descent. Pillay's parents were of Indian origin.

A former UN human rights chief, Pillay has spent her career defending human rights. Her work has included defending imprisoned anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela and heading a panel that found Israel had committed 'genocide' in Gaza.

Shashi Tharoor targets Centre

Born in Durban, South Africa, in 1941, Pillay grew up amid poverty and discrimination under apartheid.

Pillay's 2026 Nobel Peace Prize award was celebrated by her relatives in Tamil Nadu's Dindigul district, bringing the international recognition closer to her ancestral roots. Notably, Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay had also congratulated Pillay on her win.

In a post on X, Tharoor called the government's ‘lack’ of acknowledgement for the Indian-origin jurist "deplorable".

Sharing an AI-generated video of her life and work, he wrote on X, “It's been six days since this remarkable woman of Indian origin won the Nobel Peace Prize. And the government of India, her ancestral homeland, hasn't so much as congratulated her? Shame on the petty men who have made such a deplorable decision.”

One social media user, however, hit back at Tharoor, asking whether the Congress had congratulated Smit Machchhar, an Indian national who helped prevent an alleged attempt to crash a flight bound for Israel.

Tharoor responded, “Read my tweets. I hailed the hero the moment I saw the news.”

Who is Navi Pillay?

The daughter of a bus driver, Pillay’s career took her from South African courts, where she defended anti-apartheid activists, to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda following the 1994 genocide, and later to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

She also led the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), an independent body that does not speak on behalf of the UN. Last year, the commission concluded that genocide was taking place in Gaza.

A former judge at the ICC, she said she was dedicating the award to the "survivors of international crimes".

She has been "instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted," said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

With inputs from agencies

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