Royal Rage
Shashank Chouhan
Shashank Chouhan
So much for being an ‘interactive akashvani’.
As the sun set (for the time being, might we add) on Shashi Tharoor’s short-lived yet eventful political career on Sunday evening, many Congressmen must have found themselves saying ‘good riddance.’
No more tweets about holy cows or frank discussions of Nehruvian era policies.
Just about a year old in the grimy scene of Indian politics, the uber sophisticated Tharoor has, in a way, opened a debate about the New Vs the Old in the highest echelons of the Indian state in his highly dramatic exit.
His last tweet as the Minister of State for External Affairs went thus: ‘U (you) folks are the new India. We will "be the change" we wish to see in our country.’
And in an almost prophetic manner, he ended the tweet with: ‘But not w'out (without) pain.’
The immediate reason for his quitting the ministry was not because of any tweeting- at least not his tweeting. He was perceived to be supporting the Kochi team for the flashy Indian Premier League and benefiting through a proxy who is going to be his third wife.
Regardless of the fact that he denied the charge on the floor of the Lok Sabha, the Congress decided to take this opportunity to get rid of the first timer, who was a United Nations diplomat for three decades and won an election from Thiruvananthapuram by one of the largest margins ever.
The party, rightly so, did not want to waste Parliament’s time over the matter.
But, even if you are not one of the over seven lakh ‘tweeple’ who follow Tharoor on the social networking site, you would know that the IPL controversy could only have been an excuse to silence a voice that had left the party and the government red faced on many occasions.
Right at beginning of his tumultuous career, there was indication that Tharoor was a misfit in a rough, Machiavellian political discourse where appearance is all that seems to matter. Amidst Sonia Gandhi’s austerity drive, he was found to be living in a five star hotel as his official residence underwent modification. Despite living it up with his own money, he was publicly asked by the Finance Minister to relocate to the state guest house.
It was embarrassing for the government no doubt as instructions had been given to all ministers to live as frugally as possible. We later saw pictures of an obliging and sleeping Tharoor, cramped in the economy class of a flier. A year later of course, the token drive has been rolled back.
Tharoor vented his frustration by tweeting that he would travel “cattle class in solidarity with all our holy cows!” The PM, who supported him as India’s candidate for the top job at UN, brushed it aside saying it was a joke; the Congress did not find it funny.
If political humour or sarcasm is a non-existent bone in our leaders, then dissidence within party ranks is an infected body part that needs surgical removal.
So when Tharoor commented that the new visa policy post 26/11 would wean away the tourists and not the terrorists, the holy grail of being in quiet agreement with the government was broken by a union minister. It didn’t really matter if the content or the intention were kosher; it was the very act of sticking out of the line that seemed to have disturbed the otherwise boringly placid SM Krishna, who is said to have ticked off his junior on the matter.
It was just not ‘propah.’
Being an MoS, Tharoor does not get to be a part of any Cabinet meetings and is, hence, deprived the proper platform to discuss his point of view. Moreover, one may argue that, respecting disagreement is an article of faith for any flourishing democracy. Indeed, Tharoor sails in the same tech boat as President Obama as far as using Twitter to give information and express feelings is concerned.
“My tweets are kind of interactive akashvani,” he recently declared.
But then, the debate about transparency is far from its conclusion in this country what with Manmohan Singh and Sonia disagreeing on amending the Right to Information.
Being a career diplomat, Tharoor should have known better. He was probably under the romantic notion of bringing in change a la Obama. His notions did not change till he made the final call with the PM and put in his papers. That is the most surprising part of this curious tale: Tharoor just didn’t seem to learn. Or may be he wanted to persist.
He went on to mildly criticize the ‘holiest of cows’ and had to later shoot the messenger- blaming media for inaccurate reporting. At a seminar, he called the world outlook of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru “a moralistic commentary on world affairs”. The party declared that Tharoor was supposed to spread the same outlook further and not bad-mouth it. It forgot what he reminded the presswallahs as damage control the next day: that it was merely an academic debate with intellectuals who understood India’s foreign policy.
Now Tharoor does know a thing or two about foreign policy what with being the author of ‘Reasons of State’- his revered doctoral thesis at the Fletcher School where he became the youngest to get a doctorate at the age of 22 years. Still, he said in Riyadh that Saudi Arabia could be an interlocutor for India vis-à-vis Pakistan. That was sacrilege of course, and he, along with the UPA, was duly hauled over the coals by an enraged Opposition.
Before the IPL financial irregularity shadow fell on his bright days, he was also accused of using his clout in forcing his ministry to buy 150 of his three titles- he won the Commonwealth Prize for one of the titles- for Indian missions around the world. The ‘bash Shashi Tharoor brigade’, the man himself christened his detractors thus, did not care to know that the order had been placed years before Tharoor entered the ministry.
Tharoor had undoubtedly become an embarrassment for the government at home and abroad. But come to think of it, things more shameful and contradictory to the government’s stance are routinely said by UPA’s coalition partners. Unless these partners are weakened in votes, they are unlikely to be shown the door.
So was the Tharoor tale a sorrowful saga of being a soft target and not being of a high enough station to call a spade a spade? As the man himself stated a few days ago, “I would love to change that culture (where discussion is unwelcome) but I can't as an individual start setting the pace. I don't have the rank or the authority or the background to be doing that. I think I should have been, in that sense, a little more restrained…”
In the end, Tharoor may need reminding two old stories: one where an ant fights all odds and inspires a King to fight for what was right and the other where Kalidas is seen cutting the tree branch on which he was sitting.
One cannot afford to give up on his ideals, but at the same time it is suicidal to act ignorantly. The tragedy is that the art is called diplomacy of which Tharoor was a reputed master.
Shashi Tharoor is only couching his patently self serving intervention in the Cochin franchise saga with noble words like changing India for the better. He was caught red handed, much like Swami Nithyananda. It would be better for both of them to marry their sweethearts and go into oblivion instead of trying to shield themselves under the cover of idealistic words.
http://www.zeenews.com/blog/5/blog353.html
As the sun set (for the time being, might we add) on Shashi Tharoor’s short-lived yet eventful political career on Sunday evening, many Congressmen must have found themselves saying ‘good riddance.’
No more tweets about holy cows or frank discussions of Nehruvian era policies.
Just about a year old in the grimy scene of Indian politics, the uber sophisticated Tharoor has, in a way, opened a debate about the New Vs the Old in the highest echelons of the Indian state in his highly dramatic exit.
His last tweet as the Minister of State for External Affairs went thus: ‘U (you) folks are the new India. We will "be the change" we wish to see in our country.’
And in an almost prophetic manner, he ended the tweet with: ‘But not w'out (without) pain.’
The immediate reason for his quitting the ministry was not because of any tweeting- at least not his tweeting. He was perceived to be supporting the Kochi team for the flashy Indian Premier League and benefiting through a proxy who is going to be his third wife.
Regardless of the fact that he denied the charge on the floor of the Lok Sabha, the Congress decided to take this opportunity to get rid of the first timer, who was a United Nations diplomat for three decades and won an election from Thiruvananthapuram by one of the largest margins ever.
The party, rightly so, did not want to waste Parliament’s time over the matter.
But, even if you are not one of the over seven lakh ‘tweeple’ who follow Tharoor on the social networking site, you would know that the IPL controversy could only have been an excuse to silence a voice that had left the party and the government red faced on many occasions.
Right at beginning of his tumultuous career, there was indication that Tharoor was a misfit in a rough, Machiavellian political discourse where appearance is all that seems to matter. Amidst Sonia Gandhi’s austerity drive, he was found to be living in a five star hotel as his official residence underwent modification. Despite living it up with his own money, he was publicly asked by the Finance Minister to relocate to the state guest house.
It was embarrassing for the government no doubt as instructions had been given to all ministers to live as frugally as possible. We later saw pictures of an obliging and sleeping Tharoor, cramped in the economy class of a flier. A year later of course, the token drive has been rolled back.
Tharoor vented his frustration by tweeting that he would travel “cattle class in solidarity with all our holy cows!” The PM, who supported him as India’s candidate for the top job at UN, brushed it aside saying it was a joke; the Congress did not find it funny.
If political humour or sarcasm is a non-existent bone in our leaders, then dissidence within party ranks is an infected body part that needs surgical removal.
So when Tharoor commented that the new visa policy post 26/11 would wean away the tourists and not the terrorists, the holy grail of being in quiet agreement with the government was broken by a union minister. It didn’t really matter if the content or the intention were kosher; it was the very act of sticking out of the line that seemed to have disturbed the otherwise boringly placid SM Krishna, who is said to have ticked off his junior on the matter.
It was just not ‘propah.’
Being an MoS, Tharoor does not get to be a part of any Cabinet meetings and is, hence, deprived the proper platform to discuss his point of view. Moreover, one may argue that, respecting disagreement is an article of faith for any flourishing democracy. Indeed, Tharoor sails in the same tech boat as President Obama as far as using Twitter to give information and express feelings is concerned.
“My tweets are kind of interactive akashvani,” he recently declared.
But then, the debate about transparency is far from its conclusion in this country what with Manmohan Singh and Sonia disagreeing on amending the Right to Information.
Being a career diplomat, Tharoor should have known better. He was probably under the romantic notion of bringing in change a la Obama. His notions did not change till he made the final call with the PM and put in his papers. That is the most surprising part of this curious tale: Tharoor just didn’t seem to learn. Or may be he wanted to persist.
He went on to mildly criticize the ‘holiest of cows’ and had to later shoot the messenger- blaming media for inaccurate reporting. At a seminar, he called the world outlook of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru “a moralistic commentary on world affairs”. The party declared that Tharoor was supposed to spread the same outlook further and not bad-mouth it. It forgot what he reminded the presswallahs as damage control the next day: that it was merely an academic debate with intellectuals who understood India’s foreign policy.
Now Tharoor does know a thing or two about foreign policy what with being the author of ‘Reasons of State’- his revered doctoral thesis at the Fletcher School where he became the youngest to get a doctorate at the age of 22 years. Still, he said in Riyadh that Saudi Arabia could be an interlocutor for India vis-à-vis Pakistan. That was sacrilege of course, and he, along with the UPA, was duly hauled over the coals by an enraged Opposition.
Before the IPL financial irregularity shadow fell on his bright days, he was also accused of using his clout in forcing his ministry to buy 150 of his three titles- he won the Commonwealth Prize for one of the titles- for Indian missions around the world. The ‘bash Shashi Tharoor brigade’, the man himself christened his detractors thus, did not care to know that the order had been placed years before Tharoor entered the ministry.
Tharoor had undoubtedly become an embarrassment for the government at home and abroad. But come to think of it, things more shameful and contradictory to the government’s stance are routinely said by UPA’s coalition partners. Unless these partners are weakened in votes, they are unlikely to be shown the door.
So was the Tharoor tale a sorrowful saga of being a soft target and not being of a high enough station to call a spade a spade? As the man himself stated a few days ago, “I would love to change that culture (where discussion is unwelcome) but I can't as an individual start setting the pace. I don't have the rank or the authority or the background to be doing that. I think I should have been, in that sense, a little more restrained…”
In the end, Tharoor may need reminding two old stories: one where an ant fights all odds and inspires a King to fight for what was right and the other where Kalidas is seen cutting the tree branch on which he was sitting.
One cannot afford to give up on his ideals, but at the same time it is suicidal to act ignorantly. The tragedy is that the art is called diplomacy of which Tharoor was a reputed master.
Shashi Tharoor is only couching his patently self serving intervention in the Cochin franchise saga with noble words like changing India for the better. He was caught red handed, much like Swami Nithyananda. It would be better for both of them to marry their sweethearts and go into oblivion instead of trying to shield themselves under the cover of idealistic words.
http://www.zeenews.com/blog/5/blog353.html
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