Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had to face much humiliation on micro-blogging site twitter after he was caught spreading misinformation. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States, Tharoor on Monday tweeted an image of India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi in a car amid a huge crowd. He claimed that the picture was taken when the father-daughter duo visited US in 1954.
Tweeting the photo, Tharoor said, “Nehru and India (sic) 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.”
Nehru & 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. pic.twitter.com/aLovXvCyRz
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 23, 2019
However, twitter users rightly pointed it out to Tharoor that the picture he shared was not clicked in US, but in USSR, a country with which both Nehru and his daughter had very friendly relations. Some also trolled the senior Congress leader for misspelling Indira as “India.”
Why are you trying to pass off a Moscow visit picture as a US one?
In any case, in those days, a monkey from India would have drawn such crowds in the West, such was their fascination with the "exotic".https://t.co/tD28e7vbFW
— Mrs Palakkadan 🇮🇳 (@Lotus2021) September 23, 2019
That is Moscow 1956. Totally arranged adulation
— R Jagannathan (@TheJaggi) September 23, 2019
And such a shame to pass off anything as Congressis wish to! https://t.co/Ja4WQO6nox pic.twitter.com/YshYaJ40bR
— Srinivas Manuru 🇮🇳 శ్రీనివాస్ మణూరు 🇮🇳 (@AbodeOfLakshmi) September 23, 2019
The image which Tharoor shared was clicked when Nehru and Indira Gandhi visited Magnitogorsk, a Russian city situated near Moscow.
Tharoor in a later tweet conceded that he may have made a mistake in ascertaining the location of the picture, though he implied that “it still doesn’t alter the message: the fact is that former PMs also enjoyed popularity abroad.”
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
