The backlash on social media over Manohar Parrikar's 'beer' comment has been decisive and unsparing.
What Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar meant when he told a gathering on Friday evening that he was afraid "because
even girls have started drinking beer" may still be up for debate but the backlash on social media has been decisive and unsparing. #GirlsWhoDrinkBeer was a top trend on Twitter for hours on Saturday, as women from across India and beyond tweeted photos of them enjoying a beer, some tagging the former Defence Minister.
Several users objected to Mr Parrikar's apparent suggestion that drinking beer would be a cause for concern only if it was women who were doing it. Mr Parrikar had made the comment addressing the State Youth Parliament organised by the state Legislature department as he stressed on his government's resolve to tackle the drug menace in the coastal state.
"I have begun to fear now, because even girls have started drinking beer. The tolerance limit is being crossed," he had been quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Some of the earliest reactions on Twitter with the #GirlsWhoDrinkBeer hashtag - a word or phrase the ties together tweets of the same topic - called upon women to share their photos drinking beer.
And thus followed a fountain of criticism, wisecracks and demonstrations of defiance.
A few users, however, noted that Mr Parrikar may not have been entirely serious.