14 of 2014: Tweet wars
Online fights trashed many a reputation this year. But these rants and celeb-bashing taught us one lesson: "Never tweet in anger"
Kirron Kher vs Gul Panag
The two got a little personal during the polls when AAP’s Gul Panag suggested BJP’s Kirron Kher should quit because she’s old. Gul tweeted:
Doubt if I'll have the energy to run around like this and serve my people, when I'm 60.I guess that's why there's normally a retirement age.
— Gul Panag (@GulPanag) March 19, 2014
Not to be outdone, Kirron shot back: “My father is 101 and still happening. He said, ‘Good Luck Puttar. You have always been a winner’. For me Life starts at 60.”
101yr old father of @KirronKherBJP ( Col.Thakar Singh) campaigning this morning in Chandigarh. Amazing. Jai Ho.:) pic.twitter.com/drkcRbO9GA"
— Ajay Chheda (@iajaychheda) April 8, 2014
I may not be a marathon runner but I know Slow and Steady wins the race. I love the Josh in our Karyakartas.
— Kirron Kher (@KirronKherBJP) March 19, 2014
KRK vs Sonakshi Sinha
Village idiot Kamaal R. Khan’s Twitter poll, to find which actress had Bollywood’s biggest rear landed him in Sonakshi’s sights. The fuming star tweeted:
Please RT this if u think @kamaalrkhan is a woman disrespecting waste of space and deserves to be hung upside down and given 4 tight slaps.
— Sonakshi Sinha (@sonakshisinha) November 13, 2014
OUCH!
Suhel Seth and Viren Rasquinha
Talking head Suhel Seth, got the roasting of his life on Twitter after he failed to recognise hockey great Viren Rasquinha at an event.
Had an excellent session @TimesLitFest on the next big thing in sports. And an unfortunate encounter with an obnoxious Suhel Seth 1/5
— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014
As my session ended, Suhel Seth comes on stage and says "don't know what that bald guy was doing on a panel on sport, whats he done" 2/5
— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014
It's so disappointing when I am invited by the Times Lit fest to speak and get dissed on stage by a guy who doesn't even know who I am. 3/5
— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014
Even more disappointing to have the times lit fest director Bachchi Karkaria behave condescendingly. What's with these cosy clubs 4/5
— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014
I really do wonder though how Suhel Seth holds forth on everything under the sun and what exactly is his domain expertise 5/5
— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014
The adman apologised, but it was just too late.
Love the roasting I am getting on Twitter. Deservedly even though I had apologised on Twitter and written to Viren. pic.twitter.com/P6Y036x4qu
— SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) December 7, 2014
Shashi Tharoor and Congress
Shashi Tharoor was almost a selfie away from joining the BJP. At least that is what the Twitterati thought after he took up PM Modi’s offer to join the Clean India Campaign. Modi even welcomed Tharoor in a tweet and Tharoor replied saying he was ‘honoured’. The Kerala state Congress though lost their coconuts and immediately removed Tharoor from the post of Congress spokesperson. But we hear all is well now. Strange.
Narendra Modi vs Arvind Kejriwal
During a rally before the Delhi polls, NaMo fired off this tweet: “People of Delhi recently saw a coalition between Congress A team & B team.” To this a furious Kejriwal responded: “No sir. The unique experience was that BJP and Cong came together to defeat anti-corruption Janlokpal Bill.” The AAP leader’s post had double the retweets!
Ram Gopal Varma vs the country
Being an atheist does not allow hurting others’ sentiments. During Ganesh Chaturthi, filmmaker RGV tweeted: “The guy who couldn’t save his own head from being cut, how will he save others’ heads is my question? But Happy Ganpathi day to morons!” There were some more offensive ones. Ramu was blasted on Twitter and he now faces legal action.
Twitteratis vs ‘Flopkart’
Flipkart’s “Big Billion Day” started with much hoopla but the house of cards came crashing down leading to the online shopping giant being rechristened as Flopkart, Failkart, Fraudkart, Fakekart and so on. #BigBillionDay was the number one trend that day and for all the wrong reasons. Angry buyers lashed out on Twitter, mainly with complaints rather than discounts. This one gets our vote: “Sending Mangalyaan to the moon seems to be easier than placing an order on #Flipkart.”
Rajdeep Sardesai & Sagarika Ghose
You can’t fight the wife — not even on Twitter. Soon after Rajdeep Sardesai launched his book 2014: The Election that Changed India, he referred to Priyanka Gandhi as an “item girl” who “flits in and out” of politics. Sagarika Ghose shot back saying it was “unacceptable” to call Priyanka an item number. After some mumbling, Rajdeep retracted.
Indigo and Jet Airways
This is cute! Jet Airways loyalist @abhishekaggy seemed to be miffed by the airline for reasons unknown, and he took to Twitter to express it. He put out: “Going to be cheating on @jetairways and fly @IndiGo6E tomorrow”. To this a happy Indigo Airlines Twitter account promptly replied, “@abhishekaggy We’ll be looking forward to see you on-board.” To this, a possibly “heartbroken” Jet Airways countered: “@abhishekaggy We still love you, Abhishek”.
Desam’s Nara Lokesh vs K. Chandrasekhar Rao
Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh spared no words when he blamed rival KCR for power woes. “No power, No water, No jobs and farmers suicides. Chandrababu is blamed. KCR&CO can’t compete in development, hence the blame game”. KCR’s furious supporters were greeted with more Lokesh bombs with the hashtag #HitlerCM.
Deepika Padukone and ToI
We still wonder what made Times of India zoom into Deepika Padukone’s cleavage when she has a beautiful face! It all started when ToI put up a photo of the actor in an ensemble with a plunging neckline. The caption read: “OMG: Deepika Padukone’s cleavage show!” Deepika retaliated with the Tweet: “Supposedly India’s ‘LEADING’ newspaper and this is ‘NEWS’!!??” ToI replied: “@deepikapadukone, It’s a compliment! You look so great that we want to make sure everyone knew!” Deepika breathed fire, telling the paper it didn’t know how to respect women. “YES! I am a Woman. I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!??” The fight became nastier when ToI took to the print medium publishing an “Our Point of View”, telling Deepika that she began her career as a “calendar girl” for a liquor brand. Hmm. Who gets the facepalm?
Sushma Swaraj vs Nirmala Sitharaman
BJP’s Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman had things to say on Andhra’s bifurcation. Sitharaman was first: “If only Sushma had stood for Seemandhra in Lok Sabha just like Venkaiah & Jaitley did today.” In reply, Sushma retweeted this post: “With Spokespersons like @nsitharaman, u (you) don’t need enemies.” The tweets were later deleted.
Anushka’s lip job
Anushka Sharma was at the receiving end after she turned up on a chat show looking a little strange. Despite her “temporary enhancement” clarification, she didn’t escape the jokes. There was also this Tweet: “As a cricket fan I must say that Anushka first ruined her lips and now she is onto @imVkohli career ...”