BJP slams Tharoor for ‘cattle class’ remarks
September 17th, 2009 - 8:37 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi1, Sep 17 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday slammed Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor terming his twitter remarks about “cattle class” travel as an insult to a large middle class who led an austere lifestyle.
Tharoor ran into trouble for a message he posted as a reply to someone on the social networking site Twitter, in which he said he would travel “cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!” The question was about Congress leaders travelling economy class as part of austerity measures.
BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “Tharoor has termed economy class in airlines as cattle class. (This reflects) the insensitivity of the minister. This tantamounts to (causing) deep injury to the self-respect and esteem of millions who travel economy class,” Rudy said in a statement here.
He said Tharoor’s remarks show his arrogance typical of Congress leaders. The minister also came in for criticism from his own party Wednesday.
Referring to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s recent tour to Tamil Nadu, the BJP spokesperson claimed the visit cost over Rs.1 crore. “This demolishes his tall claim of austerity,” he said, and asked if this was austerity.
Rudy added that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other leaders “tom-tomming” about austerity was all hypocrisy and played with people’s emotions. It was to distract public attention from drought and price rise.
“It would be worthwhile if the UPA government stopped further lip service and chest thumping of austerity for sundry political gains,” he added.
- Tharoor says he'd tweet, but in moderation - Sep 26, 2009
- Tharoor apologises for his 'Holy Cow' tweet - Sep 18, 2009
- Tharoor meets Sonia, Manmohan, Pranab (Lead) - Sep 22, 2009
- Tharoor meets Sonia Gandhi - Sep 22, 2009
- BJP flays Congress for pardoning Tharoor for his tweat - Sep 23, 2009
- Tharoor gets wide support from Twitterati - Sep 20, 2009
- AIYF activists burn Tharoor's effigy in Kerala criticising his latest tweet - Sep 17, 2009
- PM comes to Tharoor's rescue at 'austere' iftar - Sep 18, 2009
- Tharoor's taunt on austerity drive angers Congress (Lead) - Sep 16, 2009
- Tharoor travelled economy before austerity measures (With Images) - Sep 17, 2009
- Tharoor travelled economy even earlier (Lead) - Sep 17, 2009
- Why the austerity 'drama', other parties ask Congress - Sep 15, 2009
- Tharoor's taunt on austerity angers Congress - Sep 16, 2009
- Bharatiya Janata Party criticises austerity drive - Sep 16, 2009
- Digvijay Singh using language of divide: BJP - Dec 28, 2010
Tags: austerity measures, bharatiya janata party, class remarks, class travel, congress leaders, congress president sonia gandhi, economy class, external affairs, general secretary, holy cows, insensitivity, lip service, minister of state, public attention, rahul gandhi, rajiv pratap, self respect, social networking site, tharoor, twitter