Politician, writer, and public intellectual who makes us question our English language skills, Shashi Tharoor is also an avid social media user. He is often seen giving us a glimpse of his life – be it his workout session, a family gathering, or his latest travel expedition.
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Recently, when he posted a picture alongside other fellow Ministers Of Parliament, he attracted a lot of backlash. This is what the MP for Thiruvananthapuram posted following which Twitter became a war zone.
Who says the Lok Sabha isn’t an attractive place to work? With six of my fellow MPs this morning: @supriya_sule @preneet_kaur @ThamizhachiTh @mimichakraborty @nusratchirps @JothimaniMP pic.twitter.com/JNFRC2QIq1
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 29, 2021
Incessant criticism rained over his profile with people calling him out for assuming that women only make a place look ‘attractive’.
Take a look at some of the reactions to his tweet:
Women in the Lok Sabha are not decorative items meant to make your workspace “attractive”. They are parliamentarians and you are being disrespectful adn sexist.
— Vidya (@VidyaKrishnan) November 29, 2021
Honorable MP SIR, Pic is very nice but your comments is very cheap. Plz respect every woman. https://t.co/GpqRaaF2Sx
— Pushpa (@Pushpa52460152) November 29, 2021
All that talk about not objectifying women leads to this! https://t.co/aYavEbcXwx
— Charu Pragya🇮🇳 (@CharuPragya) November 29, 2021
Why do you bring gender angle to parliament and working place. https://t.co/6NX3DTtoaj
— Saffron Scientist (@ARAshok19) November 29, 2021
So basically women at a work place are supposed to look attractive?
Objectification everywhere! https://t.co/xUgVjfRt2U— श्रेया श्रीवास्तव (@ShreyaS0310) November 29, 2021
Dear @ShashiTharoor these MPs are parliamentarians, they represent people. Women are not items which are needed to make any place attractive. I know u don’t need a dictionary but this time please check the following words “sexism” and “casual-sexism”. https://t.co/VJBuwQvSHG
— Sayantan Ghosh (@sayantan_gh) November 29, 2021
Who doesn't love starting their day by being objectified? Lucky women ! https://t.co/cTp8wRrEVF
— Manasi (@MissPaniPuri) November 29, 2021
I'm sorry, what? https://t.co/XAE7bAT9uq
— Lavanya (@lav_narayanan) November 29, 2021
Ahem! Casual sexism looks like this! https://t.co/D1GLQ5pk5M
— Bharvi Dasson (@dasson_bharvi15) November 29, 2021
"Attractive place to work" , a caption with female leaders .
A public representative finds the parliament attractive when it has women in them .
This is what the opposition is all about. https://t.co/QhmgZJuRhE— Jey D (@Jey__D) November 29, 2021
I dislike this a lot !!!!!!!
Women are not here for attracting people dear lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!! https://t.co/bzH2wDl16W— Lucky r the ones who hav figured things out ☪️ (@Shembi79) November 29, 2021
I work in a man’s world. People always say that I make the construction sites glamorous! You can be great at your work and on top of that attractive too, a privilege reserved only for women fortunately. Nothing wrong with what he said. 🤔 @sharmarekha https://t.co/wYVuXLsfvT
— Seetu Mahajan Kohli (@kohliseetu) November 29, 2021
The author of 23 books then released a public apology stating that he was happy to be roped into this show of ‘workplace camaraderie’.
The whole selfie thing was done (at the women MPs' initiative) in great good humour & it was they who asked me to tweet it in the same spirit. I am sorry some people are offended but i was happy to be roped in to this show of workplace camaraderie. That's all this is. https://t.co/MfpcilPmSB
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 29, 2021
Well, this was the time when Tharoor would have chosen better words.