Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Novelist Chetan Bhagat courted controversy on Wednesday for his tweet on the rupee and was slammed by netizens, forcing him to later delete the tweet.
Bhagat tweeted – "The rupee is asking, is there no punishment for my rapists." Twitter users accused him trivialising the gravity of rape crimes.
Bhagat, who has one of the largest followings on Twitter, later deleted his tweet but defended it strongly, saying, "People are flipping out on using word rape as metaphor. Murder is Ok... Oh wait, chance to attack someone, Why miss?" he asked.
"Have people lost perspective totally? Can a word officially have several meanings and contexts? Or is twitter about looking for fight?" another of his tweets read.
However, the heat and controversy generated by the comments was enough to propel Bhagat into one of the top "trends" on the micro-blogging site.
The already battered rupee fell below the 68-mark today and the global agencies painted a gloomy outlook for the economy. However, the government sought to reassure investors by saying there was no need for panic as the decline in the domestic currency was a reflection of "irrational sentiment."
"There is no need to panic. The Indian economy is strong and we will turn it around," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.
With PTI inputs
