Shashi Twitter Tharoor is pulled up once again

Chidambaram is learnt to be “upset” with Tharoor’s tweets and is understood to have raised the issue with his colleagues. Krishna made his displeasure public when he said today that “perceptions” should be discussed within the “four walls” of the government rather than in public.

“These (issues) are not to be discussed in public. If there are any perceptions,then I think these should be sorted out within the four walls of the ministry,” Krishna said when asked about Tharoor’s tweets. Krishna underlined that “the business of government is far too serious” and “has to be conducted in a manner in which we decide.”

Tharoor tweeted yesterday asking whether tightening of the visa norms made any sense and if it would actually “protect” security as “(the) 26/11 killers had no visas”. He said this despite the government — and his own ministry — announcing a relaxation in the new visa rules last week.

Said Krishna: “We have gone along with the Home Ministry with reference to visa and other issues. As far as the Ministry of External Affairs is concerned,there is no ambiguity.” Asked if policy issues should be talked about on sites like Twitter,Krishna said he had “no position” on this.

The Tourism Ministry dismissed Tharoor’s concerns saying the new rules will have no impact on the inflow of such visitors. “Tourists always come here on a short visit so this will not affect their arrivals,” Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed said,while dubbing Tharoor’s tweet as a “joke”.

Tharoor,in his tweets,said,“Is all that worth it just in hope of making it difficult for a future Headley to recce? R we going 2 allow terrorists 2 make us less welcoming?…Making it more difficult 2 visit India,return here frequently or stay long hurts large nbrs (numbers) of innocents,costs us millions of $ & alienates.”

Significantly,his comments came when his Ministry announced a relaxation in the two-month “cooling off” visa rule — for multiple-entry and long-term tourist visas — under which tourists need to disclose their travel plans and ticket bookings to be allowed up to three entries.

The relaxation was made this week to the guidelines issued on November 4,under which foreigners holding long-term multi-entry tourist visas would have to be out of India for two months before re-entering.

More importantly,this relaxation came after Tharoor’s ministry took it up with the Home Ministry,in the face of protests from foreign missions,especially US and UK.

Meanwhile,the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is sticking to the new regulations saying they were required to address the country’s security concerns.

Tharoor got into trouble a few weeks ago when he had referred to Economy Class in flights as “cattle class” in his tweets. This sparked a furore with the Congress dissociating itself from his comments and senior Congress leader and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot even asking for his resignation.