BJP lawmaker Chandan Mitra was slammed on social media for saying those on twitter have "nothing better to do".
Mr Mitra, a senior journalist and BJP parliamentarian, made the remarks on NDTV's The Buck Stops Here, during a discussion on the government's perceived flip-flop on Pakistan and whether it was heavily influenced by social media.
"BJP policy is not decided by twitterati. I absolutely and categorically state that twitterati does not influence policy. Yes it is a useful sounding board as to how some people with nothing very much better to do express their opinion on various subjects," Mr Mitra said.
Twitter was not amused.
Within minutes, the Rajya Sabha lawmaker was being lacerated in tweets. The BJP's supporters on social media said they felt betrayed and demanded an apology.
The furious tweets forced the party to disown its lawmaker's views. Arvind Gupta, who heads the BJP's IT cell, tweeted his disapproval.
Just returning from an overseas trip & have seen multiple messages regarding @DrChandanMitra's statement. Don't subscribe to his views 1/2
- Arvind Gupta (@buzzindelhi) December 7, 2015Online/SM/Cyber volunteers have been integral to our communication efforts and invaluable in many campaigns including #Mission272+ 2/2
- Arvind Gupta (@buzzindelhi) December 7, 2015Respected @narendramodi ji, I still remember what u told us at 7RCR that day, but what Chandan Mitra said today is totally opposite
- Rahul Kaushik (@kaushkrahul) December 7, 2015Pl clarify?On National TV-that too @ndtv BJP RS MP ChandanMitra saysBJP supporters inSM-jobless-is it party line? @AmitShah @narendramodi RT
- RVAIDYA (@rvaidya2000) December 8, 2015People like Chandan Mitra, Anurag Thakur do not command any respect in Social media. So they don't like social media.
- GanapathyI (@GanapathyI) December 7, 2015Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
