Congress member of parliament and former Minister of state for Human Resource Shashi Tharoor is not new to courting controversy. But on Monday evening as Narendra Modi along with his cabinet was being sworn into office, his 'advice' to Ministers of State on Twitter didn't go down well with users of the micro-blogging site.
In his Twitter post, Tharoor said: "Advice to some being sworn in today: Being MoS is like standing in a cemetery -- there's a lot of people under you but no one is listening!"
But sadly for Tharoor, the humorous take was lost on public, who retorted with much anger and resentment. Many of the users attacked UPA government and Manmohan Singh.
A twitter user Kartikeya Tanna posted: " That really was hallmark of UPA @ShashiTharoor. Even Manmohan Singh was practically an MoS without any autonomy."
Another user Karthi Sivaraman added: "But then sir, according to Accidental PM - even Dr. MMS felt like he was standing in a cemetery. Didn't he?"
Some Twitter users were miffed with the fact that if Tharoor felt suffocated under the UPA government then he should have revealed it to the public and opposed it openly. Kamesh Bavaratnam tweeted: " Would have appreciated if you had told it on the day when you were sworn in."
Tharoor entered politics in 2009 and served as Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs. But he resigned in less than a year after becoming embroiled in a political scandal. In 2012, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Human Resources, a post that he held till his government lost the recent general elections.
Twitterati Bring up Sunanda too
The cemetery jibe created negative publicity and many even attacked Tharoor on a personal front.
Hemant Dubey in his reply to Tharoor's remark tweeted: "u couldnt say this for 10 years just shows ur class. Anyways whn u meet special ppl 4m Pak, Remember Sunanda!!"
Tharoor wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead under mysterious circumstances on 17 January in a upscale Delhi hotel. Only days before her death, she had posted on Twitter several messages between Tharoor and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, hinting at a romantic connection.
The controversy that was played out in public created quite an embarrassment for Tharoor. Though the couple later reconciled on Twitter, the sudden death of Sunanda under such suspicious circumstances had many raising accusatory fingers on Tharoor. The case is still under investigation and the cause of death is said be poisoning.
No Sense of Humour
Tharoor finally hit out against Twitter users saying that Indians have no sense of humour. In his final tweet he said: "Alas! most reactions2my attempts at Twitter wit only convince me that most Indians neither have nor appreciate a sense of humour." But even with that statement Tharoor ended up creating an uproar as it was seen as 'belittling' the Indians.
