Overview
Shashi Tharoor (born 9 March 1956) is an Indian politician, author, public intellectual, and former diplomat. A member of the Indian National Congress, he has represented Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, in the Lok Sabha since 2009. Born in London and raised in Bombay and Calcutta, he graduated from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, in 1975 and completed a doctorate in international relations and affairs at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, in 1978.
Tharoor served as a career official at the United Nations from 1978 to 2007, rising to the rank of Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information in 2001. He contested the 2006 selection for UN Secretary-General, finishing second to Ban Ki-moon, after which he announced his retirement from the organisation.
He joined the Indian National Congress in 2009 and won the Lok Sabha seat of Thiruvananthapuram in the same year, securing re-election in 2014, 2019, and 2024. During the Manmohan Singh government, he served as the Minister of State for External Affairs. He founded the All India Professionals Congress and previously served as chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology.
A recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Tharoor has authored numerous works of fiction and non-fiction since 1981 and is widely noted for his command over the English language.
References
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Shashi Tharoor.