Newly crowned Miss World Manushi Chhillar on Monday said she was not upset with Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for referring to her as “chillar”, which means small change, in a tweet about her victory. “A girl who has just won the world isn’t going to be upset over a tongue-in-cheek remark,” she said on Monday.
She made the statement in response to a tweet by Vineet Jain, the managing director of the Times Group that organises the Miss India contest. “We need to learn to be more TOLERANT towards light-hearted HUMOUR,” Jain said.
Chhillar, from Haryana, was crowned Miss World on Saturday, 17 years after Priyanka Chopra won the title. Soon after, Tharoor said the government’s decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in 2016 was a mistake. “BJP should have realised that Indian cash dominates the globe: look, even our Chhillar has become Miss World,” he had said on Twitter.
Soon after Chillar’s response, Tharoor called her a “class act” and thanked her for her graciousness. “Still, if any offence was caused to any member of your family, sincere apologies,” he replied to her tweet. “Like every Indian, I’m proud of you.”
Social media users had criticised Tharoor after his first tweet. The National Commission for Women said it will summon him for the “derogatory and degrading tweet on our pride”.
Tharoor was quick to apologise though. “Apologies to the many who seem to have been righteously offended by a light-hearted tweet today,” he said.
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