In Solidarity With All Holy Cows!

At 11.27 in the morning of September 14, veteran journalist Kanchan Gupta asked Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor a question: 'Tell us Minister, next time you travel to Kerala , will it be cattle class?'Twenty minutes later the minister,responded: 'Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!'Twelve words -- or, in Twitter measure, 71 characters -- that have led to a veritable storm that, despite Tharoor's September 18 apology, continues to be 'Breaking News' on our television channels, fuel endless 'debates' on prime time.

Joining the band wagon, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan stated : "I believe that in a democracy, people are God. To refer to them as 'cattle' is an insult to them. And I believe that such a person has no no right to be a Union minister," he told reporters.

But, Cattle - as in 'Gau bansh'- is holy and Gau mata is God, no? The BJP has for long been the sole certified protector of the cattle class - that is the class of God, but this statement creates some confusion.

Shivrajji goes on to state "I believe that in a democracy, people are God. To refer to them as 'cattle' is an insult to them. And I believe that such a person has no no right to be a Union minister. And if he says that to sit in economy class is like being cattle, then Shashi Tharoorji, those people who travel economy class are very big people". The Times of India published this photograph of Mr Shashi Tharoor crumpled up in sleep in an economy class seat August 9, which you can see alongside.

So does this make Shashi Tharoor one of the Big people - Shivrajji, and how come he is insulting himself? Does this also mean that no one in the BJP after Jaswant Singh knows (or cannot find out) that cattle class is colloquialism for “economy class” and not a neologism invented by Tharoor?