oppn parties Roasting Shashi Tharoor For No Valid Reason

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Roasting Shashi Tharoor For No Valid Reason

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-11-29 10:25:54

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

Shashi Tharoor has faced criticism for having clicked a picture with 6 female MPs and having posted the same on Twitter by asking the question "who says Lok Sabha isn't an attractive place to work?" He was forced to issue a clarification (apology?) saying that the idea for the picture and its posting on social media came from the MPs and was posted in good humour. 

What, for God's sake, is wrong in calling women attractive? It is wrong to assume that the person calling a woman attractive is ignoring, or will ignore, her other qualities. When one is posting a picture, attractiveness is the first thing that comes to the mind. Obviously if a woman is beautiful and attractive, there is nothing wrong in complimenting her for that.

People have accused Tharoor of treating the women MPs as "decorative items", among other things. But where has the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that they are only attractive and have no other qualities? Obviously in a picture he could not have commented on their debating skills or oratorical prowess.

Others accused Tharoor of having eyes only for women. A Twitter user asked "is he in Parliament to see women only?" Tharoor has been an MP for many years now. This is the first picture he has posted with women MPs who are his fellow parliamentarians. He has never made similar comments earlier. This picture was also taken and uploaded at the behest of the women MPs. Then why falsely accuse him for having eyes only for women?

Social media has seen the rise of a class of people who get easily offended at most trivial of things. We should take things in the right spirit and stop being critical of things that are posted in good humour and without any ulterior motive. One is sure all the ladies in the picture are excellent parliamentarians and will contribute to the debates and discussions in the house to the best of their ability. But no one can deny the fact that they are attractive to look at too. That, however, does not detract from their other abilities and Tharoor never meant it to be that way.