Monday 16 April 2012

Shashi Tharoor : The Darling of Twitter!


                                
Twitter, the 140 – character modern internet miracle has indeed become a 
symbol of change in the fast paced world. Amidst all social media consultants 
and self-proclaimed gurus who only add to the noise on Twitter, here is a person 
who has broken the communication barrier between the people and politicians:

And he is none other than Dr. Shashi Tharoor.

"Talking to @shashitharoor is a lot easier than talking to Mr Shashi
Tharoor,” And make no mistake, I say this because of his battle with a hectic 
schedule to be accessible in person. Nonetheless he makes up more than needed 
by updating his followers on the day’s events. 

With a million and more followers He is perhaps the only Indian politician who 
has a verified twitter account and communicates with the people more often. 
Many celebrities use this communication tool as to promote themselves  or 
endorse their products, movies, et.all.  Shashi Tharoor is an exception to this; he 
is perhaps the only person on twitter who uses it to communicate and bridge the 
gap with people rather exchanging news feed.

Most MPs are accused of spending their life in the confines of Delhi luxuries.
Few of them spend their life the way this Politician has done after getting 
elected. I still recall the tweet of Mr. Tharoor : "Spending first day as an 
MP -elect with fisherman at our constituency.”

Shashi Tharoor on Twitter also made him a darling of those that were able
to adapt to the new technology.

Effects of Twitter: On the ground, many of us feel that the Congress
has abandoned Tharoor, inspite of denials from senior leaders. I remember 
Ramesh Chennithala, Kerala Pradhesh Congress President saying: "We have 
always supported him. But in the IPL issue, there are many things we don't 
know about. So we can't comment on them."  Yet nothing has been exposed 
about him mostly because there is nothing to ‘Expose’!

His resignation was a surprise and I believe that he must be taken back on 
Board the Cabinet. No one in Politics is more qualified. We need a person like 
him to counter the external tussles India has around the world. If we see the 
performance of Ministry of  External affairs in UPA-2, it is quite evident 
that it has a poor record. Our External affairs minister needs a note to read the
speech and yet with all due respect we cannot but help noting that he couldn’t 
differentiate his speech from that of another country. Sometimes I feel its silly 
of me to think that public opinion matters in a democracy.

Back in cyberspace, Tharoor's got big guns firing for him. “A colossal waste
of an outstanding mind with exceptional global experience,” said Anand
Mahindara.


“The man's been sacrificed for nothing, if IPL's reality isn't exposed,” says
Shekhar Kapur.

True to the above statement Mr Tharoor is a man who has been sacrificed as
we do not have any report on IPL fiasco till now. Support or no support, India's 
most famous Twitter celeb is already out of the Cabinet.

The question was, how long will Lalit Modi hang on to his post at IPL?
Because after all, those who live by Twitter especially Modi perished with it. 
We have the result in front of us. Who was the real culprit is currently living his 
life in exile.

Shashi Tharoor recognized the power of the new medium and used it as a very
effectively to force attention on himself at his own terms. Without
compromise. That was not acceptable to the Old Boys Club because the fear 
arose, “What if all the members of parliament tweeted their true
opinions from parliament to the public at large?” It would be chaos for the
Club, but it would also herald the truest form of a fluid democracy.

And I do not buy the argument of elitism. Remember Rajiv Gandhi? There was
such a groundswell of support for him from every class and caste in
India. Why? Because he was young, fresh, and promised change, he
represented hope for the people of India, to somehow change to a better,
cleaner and fairer system of governance. For example, we could say the
 same for Mr Akhilesh Yadav as well who got a land slide mandate in Uttar 
Pradesh despite his young image.

Change, I sense in the air, and if not from within the system, it will
happen from outside it with dire consequences. From the darling of
the Twitterati, its time that Mr Tharoor needs to be inducted into the cabinet 
so that he who will represent our nation to the world with the  great experience 
he possesses.


Tarique Anwer

@Tarique_Anwer on Twitter

The Writer is a Software Professional.



12 comments:

  1. Eventhough im nt interestd in politics bt lykd dis 1..its reaaly nice n need to be spread...
    Thanx for sharng..:)

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  2. True Shashi tharoor fan you are...Great work!!! Straight from the heart !!

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  3. Excellent write up @Tarique_Anwer. siple, lucid & to the point. On Mr.Tharoor, I'vea feeling he is meant for bigger things. He should float his own party & hand pick young dynamic members like self. India'll be obliged.
    Best regards
    @amitabhtiwari

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Sir. It means a lot for me.

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  4. great article ... bt he is nt the only politian having varified account .. check @narendramodi he is verified fr his mass killing ..

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    1. Thank you for providing the information.

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    2. ua determination z screaming out f ds. hats off

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  5. Kudos for the response on this article. It is indeed a piece written straight from the heart, and drips with admiration that Tarique possesses for Dr. Tharoor. Looking forward to more great write ups from you!

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  6. One man who started life like many of us has changed the flavour of political life and politicians in India. those who meet him feel like they know him for a long time as he has the power to connect and engage wtih any one in an instance.
    Somebody has suggested Dr. Tharoor should float his own party. I think the time has come for that idea to take shape! There are millions eager to stand behind you Shashi Tharoor!

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    Replies
    1. Thanx Lalitha. Yes I do agree with the fact that youth need their own pariarch now.

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  7. Very well written but the only Indian politician who
    has a verified twitter account and communicates with the people more often.

    There are many more Indian politicians who have verified accounts but yes, they do not interact much with the public as he does!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, thank you for correcting. At the time this article was published, there were hardly many Indian politician with verified twitter account except Dr Tharoor.

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