Shashi Tharoor today received some friendly advice from award-winning poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, after admitting yesterday he had been misled over the date of Mirza Ghalib's birth anniversary and authenticity of poetry he had attributed to the famous 18th century Urdu and Persian poet.
Javed Akhtar, who is widely regarded as an expert on Urdu poetry, told Mr Tharoor that the person who supplied him with the short poem that he had tweeted should "never be trusted again".
"Shashiji, who ever has given you these lines should never be trusted again. It is obvious that some one had planted these lines in your repertoire to sabotage your literary credibility," Mr Akhtar wrote in his reply to Shashi Tharoor,
Shashi ji , who ever has given you these lines should never be trusted again . It is obvious that some one had planted these lines in your repertoire to sabotage you literary credibility .
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) July 20, 2019
On Saturday the Congress leader had posted a Hindi tweet consisting of six lines of a poem he thought had been written by Mirza Ghalib to mark what he believed was his 220th birth anniversary. Accompanying the tweet, he wrote: "Mirza Ghalib's 220th birthday. So many great lines...."
According to Google Translate, the English version of the poem Mr Tharoor posted runs like this:
"Who will love God's love? If all the prisoners are good, then who will do the crime? O God, keep my friends safe, or else who will pray for my goodness and keep my enemies too happy or else who will pray for me to come to you".
However, almost exactly an hour later Mr Tharoor posted the first of two corrections.
"Ghalib is an all-time favourite, but today is not his birthday. I was misinformed. Relish the lines anyway!" he wrote.
Ghalib is an all-time favourite, but today is not his birthday. I was misinformed. Relish the lines anyway!
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 20, 2019
Mirza Ghalib's birthday is actually on December 27.
In a second tweet, posted yesterday afternoon, Mr Tharoor tagged Javed Akhtar and acknowledged that he had wrongly credited the lines to Mirza Ghalib.
"Thanks to @Javedakhtarjadu & other friends, I realize I've been had. The lines are not Ghalib's. Just as every clever quote is attributed to Winston Churchill even if he never said it, so it seems that whenever people like a shayari, they credit Ghalib for it! Apologies," the parliamentarian from Thiruvananthapuram said.
Thanks to @Javedakhtarjadu & other friends, I realize I've been had. The lines are not Ghalib's. Just as every clever quote is attributed to Winston Churchill even if he never said it, so it seems that whenever people like a shayari, they credit Ghalib for it! Apologies.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 21, 2019
Javed Akhtar wasn't the only Twitter user to correct Mr Tharoor, with many others chipping in to highlight the error.
Awesome, accidental politician
— Priti Gupta (@PritiGupta65) July 20, 2019
— BATMAN (@67ayush67) July 20, 2019
Na yeh #Ghalib ki shayeri hai aur na aaj unka birthday Hai.
— Azhar Mirza اظہر (@azharwaquar) July 20, 2019
Dear Mr. Tharoor,
— Asad ur Rahman Kidwai (@asadkidwai) July 20, 2019
I beseech you to refrain from sullying the fair name of Ghalib by attributing trash he never wrote. How would you feel if the following is attributed to Chaucer?
And my head is empty as air -
I can do,
I can dare
(Plop, plop
The barges flop
Drip drop)
STOP
Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor wasn't the only Twitter user to be corrected by Javed Akhtar.
Zaid saheb please have some mercy on poor Ghalib and leave him alone .
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) July 20, 2019
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