New Delhi, September 24: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor got himself involved in another controversy, this time for sharing 'fake news'. The Congress leader shared a picture of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and daughter and former PM Indira Gandhi. Though the picture shared by Tharoor is authentic, he goofed up the captions. The Congress MP claimed in his tweet that the picture is from US and commented on the large turnout of people at a time when there was no PR or "hyped-up media publicity." But Twitter was quick to remind the erudite Congress leader that the picture's location is not US but Moscow in earstwhile USSR. Tharoor also wrote India instead of Indira in his tweet. Shashi Tharoor Takes Up Narendra Modi's Language Challenge With The Word 'Pluralism' in Three Different Languages.
Shashi Tharoor's tweet was in the context of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent Howdy, Modi event. The Congress leader tried to highlight the popularity enjoyed by Nehru and Indira Gandhi and wrote, "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."
However, he offered a clarification on his tweet after being schooled by netizens about the location of the pic. Several of them corrected Tharoor, who then issued another tweet. The leader 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 sometime later, they said.
Read the Tweets Below
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
"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," wrote Tharoor in clarification. However, it was too little too late as the damage had been done already.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 24, 2019 05:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).