‘Not from Gourd’s own country’: Shashi Tharoor’s funny wordplay on Kerala’s spelling sparks mixed reactions on Twitter

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has often caught the public eye and gone viral on social media for his intricate knowledge of the English language, and some of the witty comments he makes on current affairs through his social media handles.

Tharoor has once again returned with a hilarious wordplay, this time educating the public on the spelling of the state ‘Kerala’. His comparison of Kerala to ‘karela’, which is the bitter gourd, left netizens in splits but also received some mixed reactions from Twitter users.

The Congress leader uploaded a photo, in which the text reads, “It is spelt ‘Kerala’ not ‘Karela’. We are not from Gourd’s own country.” while sharing the photo on social media, he wrote the caption, “Attention: some of our Hindi-speaking brethren!”

Attention: some of our Hindi-speaking brethren! pic.twitter.com/leuPKkWVFi

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) March 15, 2022

Soon after he posted the comment, many netizens retweeted and liked the photo. Many Twitter users found the wordplay by Tharoor hilarious, but others felt that the politician was targeted Hindi speakers with his post, and “mongering hate”.

One Twitter user wrote on the post, “I am 39 years old and belongs to his Hindi Speaking brethren: I have never seen anyone spelling the state as “Karela”. This is hate-mongering. Also judge us on our Hindi or Malayalam, why judging our English which is an alien language to both of us.”

I am 39 years old and belongs to his Hindi Speaking bretheren: I have never seen anyone spelling the state as “Karela”.
This is hate mongering.
Also judge us on our Hindi or Malayalam, why judging our English which is an alien language to both of ushttps://t.co/YHZL1uvauC

— Praveen (@ai_9in) March 15, 2022

And then there are other southern politicians who understand that language knowledge shouldn’t be an issue and speak in Hindi even if they aren’t perfect; believing in mutual respect. https://t.co/yjzxaQ64Hu

— Sridhar Rao (@emesar2) March 15, 2022

Another user, while sharing the example of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said, “And then there are other southern politicians who understand that language knowledge shouldn’t be an issue and speak in Hindi even if they aren’t perfect; believing in mutual respect.”

This is not the first time that Shashi Tharoor has gone viral for his witty wordplay and hilarious comments. A few months back, he was trending on Twitter for a food-based pun, where he said that “as a Southie, I would rice to the occasion, provided some-bar wasn’t there.”

The Kerala MP’s tweet read, “This was exactly what St Stephen’s was like when I was there in the early 1970s! People spent hours in repartee of this nature. But we didn’t have @Twitter to immortalise our bon mots. (On this exchange, as a Southie I would rice to the occasion, provided some-bar wasn’t there)”