Shashi Tharoor resigned today as India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, failing
to make it to even his first anniversary. No, it wasn’t something he tweeted that was his undoing — it was something someone else tweeted.
Mr. Tharoor was on the receiving end of a Twitter attack last week from Lalit Kumar Modi, chairman and commissioner of the Indian Premier League. …
The seeds of the current feud were sown in March when two new IPL teams were put up for auction. One of the teams, which will be based in Kochi in Mr. Tharoor’s home state, was won by Rendezvous Sports World. The group, which includes figures from India’s real-estate and cinema sectors, agreed to pay $333 million.
Three weeks later, on April 11, Mr. Modi sent out this on Twitter: “Who are the shareholders of rendezvous. And why have they been given this 100’s of million dollar bonanza?”
He revealed the names of the group’s shareholders later that day. The list included Sunanda Pushkar, a woman frequently photographed at social events with Mr. Tharoor, who is in the middle of a divorce from his second wife. [Wall Street Journal]
The would-be third wife stood to gain greatly from the Kochi franchise — or so it appeared — which caused an uproar from opposition parties and an Internet slowdown as millions of young men entered the search term “Sunanda Pushkar pics.”
Mr. Tharoor has denied accusations that he stands to benefit financially from his links to Ms. Pushkar.
“It has been suggested that I have indirectly received personal benefits from this enterprise because the Rendezvous management team, who hold stakes in the venture, includes a close friend of mine,” said Mr. Tharoor in a statement that he tried to make in parliament Friday before he was shouted down by other parliamentarians. He gave it instead to journalists outside. [Wall Street Journal]
So what’s next for Tharoor? Will he marry Pushkar? Will he remain in parliament? Will he write more books? And will John Abraham play him when the movie about his life is made?
He has made a fair bit of money from his books. He’s basically life Tom Friedman. He came up with one kind of interesting idea a while ago (India is a land of minorities!) and then wrote hundreds of thousands of pages repeating that idea in slightly different terms over and over again by giving you random semi-personal anecdotes he picks up from the cab-drivers who drive him from his five-star hotels to high-profile talks. To paraphrase Ezra Klein’s classic takedown of Dick Armey, he’s like a shallow person’s idea of what a deep thinker should sound like.
All he lacks is the mustache.
Rich? – He is the author of 10 books – some of them should be getting him good royalty. – Served 29 years at UN – Serves as the Chairman for Dubai-based Afras Ventures – Family well to do – Born to a newspaper executive
Alimony? – Shouldn’t be paying child support since both sons are older and work as journalist/editors at Times, etc.
Afras ventures? I just checked out their site http://www.afras.ae/afras-ventures.html — looks like a poorly run NGO, but then again, maybe the oil rich Arabs hooked him up with a couple of million.
Books? Who honestly reads is books? Have they been best sellers?
Family – Was his father self-employed? because that’s the only way you can live off inherited money and be comfortable. i.e. by having a parent who owns a business and works for himself. The 9 to 5 corporate path only ensures an upper middle class life while you have the job, but after you retire it’s kaputo.
Lalit Modi’s family looks like they have real money (hundreds of millions) – So, how can politicians bring down a guy sitting on that much coin? He’ll just bribe them, no?
What a joke. Them nairs or the jats, both sudras in the hindu caste system, never even heard of the scythians until the 19th century.
Who the eff is willing to pay $333 million for an INDIAN SOCCER TEAM?
That is called throwing good money at bad.
It is really funny to read the comments posted by Ezhavas (untouchables) and Christians (converts from untouchables) about Tharoor’s caste. In Kerala caste hierarchy, Nairs are the topmost ranking caste, and even Iyer Brahmins are considered inferior to them.
“A Nair was expected to instantly cut down a Tiar, or Mucua, who presumed to defile him by touching his person; and a similar fate awaited a slave, who did not turn out of the road as a Nair passed”
They were a warrior people and considered it humiliating to do any other job like farming. And they are considered Scythian because they are descended from the Indo-Scythians who immigrated South (evident from their skin color).
Still some Tiars (Ezhavas or untouchables) do have extreme jealousy towards these people and try to badmouth them whenever they get a chance.