Click to play videoMinister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, the urbane and articulate former international diplomat, was being sarcastic when he posted a message on Twitter that he would travel “cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!”.
The message on the social networking site may have made his “followers” smile but politicians didn’t find it witty. Tharoor has apologised for his remark but the Congress on Friday indicated that it might take action against him. "The Congress will take appropriate action at appropriate time," said party spokesperson Manish Tewari.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Tharoor’s remark a joke but the matter may not end soon. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has demanded Tharoor's resignation. "Such statements by Tharoor are bound to evoke reactions," said Tewari about Gehlot’s demand.
Are demands for Tharoor's resignation justified? CNN-IBN’s Bhupendra Chaubey asked Tewari, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, novelist and blogger Amit Varma, and Kanchan Gupta, Associate Editor at The Pioneer newspaper.
Prasad believed Tharoor’s fault, as a minister, was that he made a “statement of extravagance”.
“When you stay in a five star hotel for three months and give the explanation that you need it for the gym and privacy, it was in bad taste and you are making a statement of extravagance. Today, when the country faces some kind of ominous threat from China, those who are managing foreign policy are engaging in the debate and politics of simplicity,” said Prasad. “As a minister you cannot take life so casually.”
The BJP leader alleged “cattle class” and “holy cows” were derogatory and insensitive to Indians.
Varma, who blogs at India Uncut, disagreed. The Congress and the BJP need English teachers if they believe Tharoor’s remarks are offensive, he said.
“Cattle class is not derogatory to passengers--if it is derogatory to anyone at all, it is to airlines. Holy cow is a term with a specific meaning--it doesn’t literally mean a holy cow. I don’t see what the fuss is all about.”
Varma believed Tharoor must be complimented for being accessible to people and answering to their questions on Twitter. “On the one hand we complain that our politicians are unaccountable and inaccessible and here you have a minister who has one-and-half lakh people subscribing to his feeds on Twitter. He is being light-hearted--he is not insulting anyone. This is a bizarre controversy.”
That logic would have been fine if Tharoor had communicated with people in the privacy of his library or home, said Prasad. “But when you are communicating in the public domain then you are making a statement of intent. Our English maybe weak--we need to learn that from Mr Varma--but as political leaders we know the ground reality and at least pardon us that margin,” he said.
Gupta, to whose Twitter post Tharoor made the controversial reply, believed the Congress had a “divergence of views” on the controversy. The Prime Minister had brushed it aside as a “joke” but when Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi was asked for his comment he said the party has reacted, said Gupta.
“Tharoor is doing what politicians of the future really need to do. Rahul Gandhi should learn from Tharoor. The online media perhaps doesn’t have the reach yet but in the years to come this is how politicians should reach out,” said Varma.
The BJP does communicate with the people using Facebook, Twitter and e-mails but that communication cannot be in the “language of Shashi Tharoor, said Prasad.
Manish Tewari had just one comment to make: the BJP must refrain from using Tharoor’s remark as a political tool. “The BJP would be better served if they can deal with Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his ghost rather than trying to make a debating point, which does not exist,” he said.
SMS poll on ‘are demands for Tharoor's resignation justified?’
No: 71 per cent
Yes: 29 per cent.
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