Published: September 27, 2009
I Will Continue to Tweet Says Shashi Tharoor
By A.M. Jamsheed Basha
No Problem With His 'Tweeting' But No More 'cattle Class ' Like Humours, Please
Former UN Diplomat-turn-politician and now Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, has the uncanny habit of inviting trouble for himself and his Congress party. As his 'Tweet' remarks were about to die down, he came out with another that he would continue to tweet. It's more out of hurt than anything else. Let him do it and who objects to it as long as he continues with moderation.
"So, twitter will continue and I will not exercise self-censorship but some moderation," he said in an interview to India Today magazine.
Feeling obviously hurt at the rebuke he got from the party spokesperson, Tharoor said he was disappointed with it as he came to India to make a 'difference'. What 'difference' he proposed to make to the politics of India, nobody is sure except Tharoor himself. Was he talking of the 'difference' he made when he stayed in a five star hotel for 3 months, albeit at his own expense, while his colleagues barring Krishna, MEA, stayed in Govt. bungalows or in respective Bhavans. Why did Tharoor chose to stay in a Five Star Hotel paying Rs.40,000 per night stay, while the same amount could easily fed 40,000 poor families for a month in his own constituencies. Mr. Tharoor, India is not Europe and it is a different country where there is no place for western living. Indians are simple and they like simplicity more from their political leaders.
Tharoor went on to say that he made great emotional and financial 'sacrifices' including living in India away from his wife, obviously to make a 'difference'. He need not worry, Indians have already seen the 'difference' exhibited by him when he lived in a Five Star Hotel.
Rubbishing the rumours that his hotel bills were paid by a Dubai-based company named Afras, Shashi Tharoor said that he paid all the bills for his stay in the hotel through a credit card. No one objects to that kind of living but for austerity drive undertaken to fight drought conditions in the country. It's austerity drive and more spending in areas affected by drought that alone can make a 'difference' to the lives of drought affected farmers in the country.
On his continuing to 'tweet', Tharoor said "tweeting" is "an innovative medium of communication" and that he is not doing anything new. Many leaders in the world have been using it. He cited that even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton use Twitter to communicate with people not to speak of the Australian President, Kevin Rudd who does it as well. What Tharoor failed to understand is the fact that people would not mind his twitting but they take notice only when such inadvertent remarks like "cattle class" were made that disturbs the Indian sensitivity. It may be a 'humour' alright but such humours are not taken well in India. Perhaps, after good counselling by Soniaji, Shashi Tharoor would do well to avoid unnecessary controversies in future. Jai Hind.
A.M. Jamsheed Basha is a Chennai-based columnist, who writes at www.newageislam.org and NewsBlaze.com
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