MP-IDSA Director General slams Shashi Tharoor over 'fake' claim that they cannot pay faculty

Hours after Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took to Twitter stating that the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) was unable to pay its faculty, Director General Sujan Chinoy has hit back stating that this was fake news.

The MP-IDSA is incidentally an autonomous body dedicated to "research and policy relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security".

"Shocked to learn that the premier think-tank of the Ministry of Defence, the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, has informed its faculty that they “will be unable to disburse salary and pension for August and September 2020”. Rank financial incompetence of Govt!" Tharoor had tweeted.

Chinoy however was perturbed by this comment, stating that it was fake news and marvelling at the fact that Tharoor had believed it.

"@ShashiTharoor I know it's akin to David (me) telling Goliath (you), but really, how could you believe #FakeNews? MoD has already sanctioned funds and salaries for Sept are not even due! Hope nation can come together & focus on matters of national importance-defence an development!" he responded.

But while there does not seem to have been any follow-up comment from the Thiruvananthapuram MP, a September 13 report by The Hindu claims that the MP-IDSA had indeed told its faculty that it would be unable to disburse salaries and pensions, as claimed by Tharoor. The Hindu report claims that this was conveyed to the faculty by the DG in an email at the end of August. As such the DG's comments seem to debunk the claim.

The central government had renamed the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in February this year in order to "honour the commitment and legacy" of the late defence minister. Parrikar, who was defence minister from November 9, 2014 to March 14, 2017, had died on March 17 last year in Goa's Panaji.