Tharoor tenders apology

September 18, 2009 01:37 am | Updated December 17, 2016 04:56 am IST - NEW DELHI

CRITICS SILENCED: Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor travels in the economy class in the first week of August.

CRITICS SILENCED: Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor travels in the economy class in the first week of August.

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor “tweeted” his apology around midnight on Thursday night to all those hurt by his “cattle class” remark. Tweeting from Liberia, Mr. Tharoor’s apology came a day after the Congress publicly reprimanded him for stating that he would travel “cattle class in solidarity with all our holy cows” in a message posted on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Having learnt “belatedly of fuss over my tweet” in reply to a journalist’s question whether he would travel “cattle class” to Kerala, Mr. Tharoor said the phrase cattle class was used by the scribe and he had only repeated it.

Further, according to the Minister, “it’s a silly expression but means no disrespect to economy class travellers, only to airlines for herding us in like cattle.”

Of the view that many had misunderstood him, Mr. Tharoor, in another tweet, observed that he had been told it sounds worse in Malayalam; especially when said out of context. “I now realise I shouldn’t assume people will appreciate humour. And, you shouldn’t give those who would wilfully distort your words [given] an opportunity to do so.”

In yet another reply to a query he got from one of his 1, 69,096 followers on Twitter, the Minister said: “Holy cows are not individuals but sacrosanct issues or principles that no one dares challenge. Wish critics would look it up.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.