Reacting to Tharoor's tweet, Krishna said if the juinor minister had any 'perceptions', those should be discussed within the 'four walls' of the government.
Once bitten, twice shy? Obviously not Twitter-junkie and minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor. After kicking up a minor storm with his "cattle class" and "holy cow" remarks on Twitter in September, Tharoor has waded into another controversy by tweeting about India’s new visa policy on the micro-blogging site.
His remarks drew a swift snub from his boss, SM Krishna, on Monday. Krishna ticked off his junior, saying he should not have discussed policy matters in public.
On Christmas and the day after, Tharoor posted several tweets raising questions about the proposal to make it mandatory for those holding long-term multiple entry tourist visas to take a compulsory break of two months after 180 days in India. Earlier, they could just go to another country and come back after the duration of stay in India.
Under the new rules, they will have to be away from India for two months. The ministry of home affairs announced the new rules in the wake of the controversy surrounding Lashkar activist and 26/11 plotter David Coleman Headley’s frequent trips to India on a tourist visa.
Tharoor wrote: "Issue is not security vs tourism, but whether visa restrictions protect our security." He underlined his argument saying, "26/11 killers had no visas."
Tharoor argued that he preferred "openness and liberty to encourage tourism and goodwill" as opposed to "tough visa restrictions in hope of" better security. The new rule would alienate tourists and cost India millions of dollars, he wrote.
His senior, SM Krishna, though, had no such doubts in his mind. "We have gone along with the home ministry on the visa issue," Krishna said. The external affairs minister did not hide his disappointment with his junior: "Well, these issues are not to be discussed in public."
If Tharoor has any such reservations, "they should be sorted out within the four walls of the two ministries", said Krishna, whose own attempts at aping his junior on Twitter was both short-lived and uneventful.
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