Shashi Tharoor mum on visa tweet, 'followers' come out in support

Surrounded by a controversy following his comment on tightening of Indian visa rules on Twitter, minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor today refrained from making any remarks, but his 'followers', including a senior journalist, have come out in his support.

The minister, however, thanked his followers in the site for backing him and re-tweeted the comments supporting him.
    
"If Shashi Tharoor said same things to journos he would be hailed as frank. When he tweets he is called irresponsible," said Vir Sanghvi, senior journalist.

Another follower, hailing Tharoor's comments, said the minister was only trying to make democracy accessible.

"About time 2 (to) stop manfctrng (manufacturing) controversies arnd (around) sweets (tweets) of @shashitharoor. He'just trying to make democracy accessible," said one of Tharoor's 5,38,861 followers.
    
While tweeting, Tharoor had questioned the tightening of visa rules in the backdrop of the David Headley case and wryly said "26/11 killers had no visas."

Wondering whether the tightening of the visa norms for foreign nationals made any sense at all and if it would actually "protect" security, Tharoor asked whether India would allow terrorists to make it a "less welcoming" destination.
    
External affairs minister SM Krishna also criticised his junior minister for publicly questioning new visa guidelines, saying if he had any "perceptions", those should be discussed within the "four walls" of the government.