The Twitter Wars

It is Shashi Tharoor vs. S.M. Krishna and it involves Twitter.  I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would one day live to read about a political controversy involving two Indian politicians about what one of them wrote on Twitter.  When I think of an Indian politician the image that I see on my mind looks more like Lalu Prasad Yadav or Zail Singh (remember him?) and not Shashi Tharoor.

There is nothing wrong with Zail Singh or Lalu Prasad Yadav.  They are as much a part of the Indian fabric as is Shashi Tharoor.  But somehow I have a difficult time associating cutting edge technology, social networking sites, transparency and liberal thinking with Indian politicians.  I have followed Shashi Tharoor for a few months now on Twitter.  I am surprised that he has run into trouble with the government only a couple of times so far.

Shashi Tharoor and S.M. Krishna have a lot in common in terms of education and experience (both are educated in some of the best universities in India and the United States of America.  While Shashi Tharoor has a lot of experience working with International agencies like the United Nations, S.M. Krishna is a career politician and has headed many ministries in the past).  Between them they bring a breadth and depth of international experience and management skills that will be a tremendous asset to India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

So what is the problem?  Why can’t they get along?  If I am S.M. Krishna then I would definitely feel a sense of loss and even insubordination if I see comments that are critical of department policies.  Difference of opinion is very important in a democracy.  But once the decision is made then is it right to be critical of the decision?  Even if you want to dissent, is Twitter the right forum to do it?  Most of us who work for private corporations clearly understand how it works.  Once a decision is made it is “our” decision whether we internally agreed with it or not.  It then becomes a part of our job to promote “our” decision.

But the government of a large democracy like ours works very differently than a private organization and the rules are different.  Decisions are rarely final and are constantly revised and the process of criticism, revision and updating is always played out in public.  It is important to note that the original visa rules proposed by Krishna has been significantly revised since mainly due to criticism from people within the country (like Tharoor) and also from the United States, Britain and the large Indian community that live outside of India (did you notice the U-turn that Home Minister Chidambaram took on the Telangana issue within a matter of weeks?)

This would have been a non issue if Tharoor expressed his views to a newspaper reporter.  I think the fact that Tharoor Tweeted which instantly enabled millions of people all over the world to read about it and immediately respond to it is what caused the problem.  The Union Minister felt cornered and he did not have time to react.

The Union Ministers reaction to Tharoor’s Tweets shows the difference between politics and business.  The Union Minister publicly reprimanded the Minister of State which rarely happens in business.  I hope the government does not put pressure on individuals like Tharoor to confirm (I like the noisy disjointed Indian government any day over the uniform, corporate looking and sounding American government).

I think that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has done a very good job of bringing individuals from varied backgrounds to the Indian government.   The government should not forget why individuals like Tharoor were offered positions in the Indian government in the first place.  These are extremely successful individuals and the government should get the most out of them.  We should not try and make them like the rest of our politicians.

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2. New India but Same Old India
3. NRI Remittances to India Reach Record Levels
4. Shared Legacy: George Bush and Manmohan Singh
5. India’s Home Ministry in Shambles

Tags: American, India, Indian, Krishna, Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, Shashi Tharoor, Tweets, Twitter

Category: News & Government