Shashi Tharoor takes dig at 'Howdy Modi' with Nehru's 'US photo', clarifies it is from USSR visit
New Delhi, Sep 24: Setting out to take a swipe at the 'Howdy Modi' event, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor found himself in a spot of Twitter trouble instead when he posted a picture of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi in what he claimed was the US only to clarify later that it was probably from their visit to the USSR.
Tharoor, who tweeted the photograph of the first prime minister and his daughter in an open vehicle waving to large crowds of people, was also trolled for misspelling Indira Gandhi's name as "India Gandhi".
"Nehru and India Gandhi in the US in 1954. Look at the hugely enthusiastic spontaneous turnout of the American public, without any special PR campaign, NRI crowd management or hyped-up media publicity," Tharoor said on Monday night tagging the photo and taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's diaspora event in Houston.
It was a gaffe, several netizens told Tharoor, who has a massive following of 7.1 million on Twitter. It was actually a picture from Nehru and Indira Gandhi's visit to the USSR some time later, they said.
Tharoor issued a clarification a short while later.
"I am told this picture (forwarded to me) probably is from a visit to the USSR and not the US. Even if so, it still doesn't alter the message: the fact is that former PMs also enjoyed popularity abroad. When @narendramodi is honoured, @PMOIndia is honoured; respect is for India," he said in a tweet some hours later.
Nehru & India Gandhi in the US in 1954. Look at the hugely enthusiastic spontaneous turnout of the American public, without any special PR campaign, NRI crowd management or hyped-up media publicity. pic.twitter.com/aLovXvCyRz
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 23, 2019
I am told this picture (forwarded to me) probably is from a visit to the USSR and not the US. Even if so, it still doesn't alter the message: the fact is that former PMs also enjoyed popularity abroad. When @narendramodi is honoured, @PMOIndia is honoured; respect is for India. https://t.co/9KQMcR0zTD
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 23, 2019
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
