Tweeter Tharoor in Trouble

India is not a tweeter land. Yes, Obama won American presidency because of his massive mobilization of supporters in social networking sites Facebook, Orkut, youtube etal. Shashi Tharoor, the greenhorn politico and ex international bureaucrat is trying to do a la Obama and got backfired. Indian politicians and the world politicos in general should understand that social networking sites can take you to the top one minute and drops you to the bottom next minute. Be cautious in using these sites.

The Times of India writes regarding this controversy (19 September 2009)


Holy cow, what a row! Minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor referring to the economy class in airlines as the "cattle class" has
sparked off national debate. Indignant politicians have jumped to the defence of the 'ordinary Indian' who more often than not travel economy. It is, our esteemed representatives say, an insult to the aam janta, who do not enjoy the privileges of the elite.

The reactions to Tharoor's tweet on the social networking site Twitter has ranged from the amusing to the absurd. By and large, it seems our netas are more outraged than the common man on whose behalf they are ostensibly angered. The BJP wants him sacked; his own party castigated him via a statement pronounced by its voluble and proper spokesperson, Jayanti Natarajan.

Cattle class, by the way, is a turn of phrase that is in currency in the English-speaking world. It's not a pejorative as it is being made out to be. Seems like our politicians are ill-equipped to understand this manner of speaking. There are enough examples in Hindi, or other regional languages of this country for that matter, where animals feature prominently in idioms. When these are used in human interaction, we don't seem to get as offended. Then why make such a song and dance over the cattle class comment? Just because it refers to the cow, which is revered by sections of our society? Looks like the latest austerity drive includes being frugal with wit and humour as well.

Indian politicians are an infamously humourless lot. They take themselves far too seriously and can't seem to loosen up. If they took a trip to the House of Commons in England, they would be horrified at the personal barbs and jibes traded with gusto, which liven up things and provide much comic relief. Unfortunately this is one legacy the Brits did not hand down to our political class when they packed their bags all those decades ago. Humour and the ability to take oneself lightly are vital to maintaining perspective and keeping the social contract going. Go on, laugh out loud.
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Shashi Tharoor has landed himself in a soup over his tweets. The Congress has taken strong exception to his poking fun at travelling ''cattle
class''. Rival political parties have also roundly criticised him. While we may dismiss the Congress high command as a dour lot, Tharoor should have known better than to take potshots at his own party's highly-publicised austerity policy.

Even before his ill-timed tweet, Tharoor had undermined Congress's public rhetoric on austerity. At a time when the Congress was asking ministers and MPs to forego part of their salaries in solidarity with farmers affected by drought, Tharoor was staying in a five-star hotel suite while his official bungalow was being readied. Though Tharoor protested that he was paying from his own pocket, he was immediately asked by the Congress high command to move out. One would have expected Tharoor to steer clear of any further controversy.

But lo and behold, a day after Sonia Gandhi travelled by economy class, Tharoor responded to a query on Twitter by saying that he was travelling cattle class in 'solidarity with holy cows'. There was no way that the Congress leadership would have let this comment pass. Quite expectedly Tharoor was publicly pulled up by a Congress spokesperson. Some of his own party members, including the Rajasthan chief minister, have called for his resignation.

It's no point criticising the Congress leadership as humourless. They are aware that in India it is important to maintain a public image of being one with the common man. So even if a Congress politician has crores stashed away, he still dresses in khadi and eschews pomp in public. The austerity drive on the part of Congress is very much in line with this thinking. It has nothing to do with high principles; it is simply a calculated strategy that the party feels will go down well with its voters.

Tharoor, a greenhorn in politics, is oblivious to such political wiles. He is the only minister who is on Twitter, which is a platform that demands spontaneity. He hasn't realised that tweets and wisecracks about party leaders don't have a place in India's political culture.