Yes, he rediscovered the potential of cyber space in his run up to the Indian Parliament, though it had not really worked well in his ambitious campaign for the UN Secretary General's post.
But, ever since he got in to the stable of politics from the greener pastures of diplomacy, our State Minister for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, has found it to be an unholy place to survive, especially with the lifestyle he is used to.
It all began with his stay in a the five star hotel as was the case of his senior S.M. Krishna (on their own expense of course!). But a party, that also belongs to the rich, has concern for the poor as well and it could not take such extravagance in a lighter spirit. After all this is the age when Rahul Gandhi goes by train with his brigade of security guards.
Then came the now (in)famous tweet on cattle class and holy cows from the diplomat-turned-writer-turned politician. In reply to a question by journalist Kanchan Gupta ("Tell us minister, next time you travel to Kerala, will it be in cattle class?") the diplomatically sensitive minister made a passing remark that he was prepared to travel in the “cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows"!
The sensitive human being that Tharoor is failed to understand that politics is a different ballgame altogether, when he made such a 'politically incorrect' statement.
What agitated the loyalists among the loyalists in Congress was the word holy cow, and not the cattle class! Who is bothered about the cattle after the electoral race?
Who are the holy cows? We the cattle class don't know, however. But the interpretation experts in the party know for sure, as was evident from the televised sound and fury (though signifying nothing)!
And the microblogging site itself is flooded with comments carrying all the swearwords and more, which would probably make the politicians think twice (or even more) before taking wings with the freedom of expression.
This is not for the first time that a politician has fallen in the hot-and-sour soup of tweets. It was a couple of days back that US President Obama's off-the-record comment on rapper Kanye West went 'on the record' when a news anchor posted on Twitter the President calling West a "jackass".
Of course the problem was 'solved' with a big sorry from ABC News, as the high-profile news anchor who broke the news on Twitter belonged to the company.
And the controversy brings them more followers. As of now Tharoor's official Twitter has around 164,940 followers while Obama News has 173,240 following.
Tail end: A simple doubt. Which is the Internet connection that Tharoor uses to log on to Twitter? Is a minister, or for that matter a public servant, entitled to use the official connection for private use? Hope the minister is carrying a net connection of his own!
Bon voyage!
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Posted on:
9/18/2009 at 12:17 AM
Tags:
austerity,
tweet,
twitter,
indian parliament,
un secretary general,
state minister,
external affairs,
shashi tharoor,
rahul gandhi,
congress,
cattle class,
holy cows,
microblogging,
obama,
kanye west,
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