Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, was speaking after the release of his 13th book "Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century" which deals with India's foreign policies and the country's role in the multi-aligned 21st century world.
Introducing the book, the MP said foreign policy was something not to be confined to air conditioned rooms and selected officials but was to be discussed by common people.
"India has to play a responsible role in today's networked and multi-aligned world. If you want trade relations with others or like to achieve food security, we should have good relations with other countries," Tharoor said.
Releasing the book, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said India should be able to go forward upholding self-respect while keeping healthy foreign relations with other countries.
Chandy said the foresightedness of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had given a strong base for India's foreign policy.
"India has a strong and appreciative inheritance in the case of foreign policy.It should be owed to the foresightedness of Jawaharlal Nehru. The country has succeeded in keeping her self-respect before the international community even in her worst days as well as during her present course to become a world economy," he said.
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Referring to the 'Enrica Lexi' incident, in which two Indian fishermen were shot dead off the Kerala coast allegedly by Italian marines recently, Chandy said "Kerala government got all support from the Union Ministry to uphold the righteous stand taken by us even though the country has strong foreign relations with Italy."
Former Ambassadors T P Sreenivasan and KPS Menon were also present at the function.