Shashi Tharoor's taunt on austerity has Congress frowning

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor today landed in a fresh controversy for reportedly dubbing travel by economy class as "cattle class", a remark which was strongly disapproved by Congress.

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor is twittering to a growing fan club of about 5,000 followers, but his tweets have also caused heartburn in the government and the Congress.

HT Image

This time, the party has openly expressed its disapproval of his latest remarks on Twitter.

On his page on Twitter, Tharoor was asked: “Tell us minister, next time you travel to Kerala, will it be cattle class?”

His reply: “Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows.”

The Congress said his remarks were “unacceptable and totally insensitive”. These came at a time when the party has launched an aggressive austerity drive, which saw Congress chief Sonia Gandhi flying to Mumbai in economy class and general secretary Rahul Gandhi travelling to Ludhiana in an A/C chair car.

“These remarks are unacceptable given the sensitivity of all Indians and not in sync with our political culture,” Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said. “Thousands of people travel by economy class.”

Will he face disciplinary action?

Natarajan said that was something the party high command would decide.