- Friday, May 09, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
SENIOR Indian National Congress member of parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor faced a backlash on social media on Monday (29) after he posted a picture with some women parliamentary colleagues saying the Lok Sabha is an “attractive place” to work.
In his post that went viral in no time, the former central minister posed in a selfie with Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party MP from Baramati in Maharashtra), Preneet Kaur (Congress MP from Patiala in Punjab), Thamizhachi Thangapandian (Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam MP from South Chennai in Tamil Nadu), Mimi Chakraborty (Trinamool Congress MP from Jadavpur in West Bengal), Nusrat Jahan (Trinamool MP from Basirhat in West Bengal) and S Jothimani (Congress Karur MP in Tamil Nadu).
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The selfie was clicked by Chakraborty, an actor-turned-politician.
The social media, however, was not impressed with the post which Tharoor made on the opening day of the winter session of the parliament.
Tharoor, who often makes the headlines for his comprehensive vocabulary, did not impress the social media users with his choice of words.
As he captioned the picture with the fellow parliamentarians saying, “Who says the Lok Sabha isn’t an attractive place to work? With six of my fellow MPs this morning (sic)”, the netizens slammed him saying the tweet was “sexist” and “disrespectful”.
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
One user asked, “How does this doesn’t fit in the feminism’s definition of objectification of women (sic).”
How does this doesn't fit in the feminism's definition of objectification of women?
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) November 29, 2021
One woman user asked whether Tharoor should have used the word “inclusive” instead of “attractive”.
Attractive or inclusive??
— Anu Mittal (@anushakunmittal) November 29, 2021
Tharoor, who is a three-time parliamentarian from Thiruvananthapuram in the southern state of Kerala, later apologised on Twitter saying the whole thing was done in “great good humour”.
“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 into this show of workplace camaraderie. That’s all this is,” he tweeted.
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
Mahua Moitra, another parliamentarian from the Trinamool Congress, tweeted supporting Tharoor saying the latter was trolled for a non-issue. The Congress MP thanked her for her “solidarity”.
Thanks for the solidarity @MahuaMoitra! https://t.co/bXk7cNIjhy
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 29, 2021
