New Delhi, March 15 -- Two prominent political leaders, intellectual titans in fact of the Indian National Congress, but who have been virtually sidelined by the party, have clashed openly. Such disagreements are not uncommon amidst political parties and usually concern mundane matters. Rarely, however, does a disagreement sound less like a policy debate and more like a literary duel conducted in polished English. The recent exchange of open letters between Mani Shankar Aiyar in Frontline and Shashi Tharoor on the NDTV website belongs squarely in that rare category.

Reading their correspondence, one might be reminded of the celebrated intellectual falling-out between Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, two of the most celebrated intellect...