Raghuram Rajan as Bank of England Governor: Shashi Tharoor’s tryst with fake news on Twitter

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor seems to have a never-ending relationship with goof ups on microblogging site Twitter. This time it is on a report suggesting that former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has been appointed as the Governor of the Bank of England.

Sharing the report on Twitter, the Congress leader had termed Rajan’s “achievement” as “remarkable”, talking about “reverse colonization”. He had tweeted, “Remarkable: India's RaghuramRajan has been appointed Governor of the Bank of England! With an Indian (NasserHusain) having captained the England cricket team already, all that's left to complete a reverse colonization is for an Indian to be Prime Minister.”

Remarkable: India's RaghuramRajan has been appointed Governor of the Bank of England! https://t.co/xdIop5Ltuv With an Indian (NasserHusain) having captained the England cricket team already, all that's left to complete a reverse colonization is for an Indian to be Prime Minister. — Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 5, 2018

But soon after sharing the post, Tharoor found himself once against at the receiving end of criticism and mockery on the microblogging site. Hours later, Tharoor conceded that he had been “taken in by fake news”. “Seems I was taken in by fake news too. Thanks @AltNews for setting the record straight,” Tharoor tweeted.

Seems I was taken in by fake news too. Thanks @AltNews for setting the record straight. https://t.co/fuELbzPeiJ https://t.co/NwzUya075r — Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 5, 2018

You’re right. Given the amount of fake news there is out there about me, I really should have known better. Still, enjoyed a moment of post-colonial satisfaction there! https://t.co/orV82VOge8 — Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 5, 2018

In another tweet on the fake news, the Congress leader said, “Given the amount of fake news there is out there about me, I really should have known better.  Still, enjoyed a moment of post-colonial satisfaction there!”

Tharoor is quite popular on the microblogging site for his style. From words like farrago to rodomontade, he has sent Twitter into a frenzy on several instances.

His admiration on Twitter is such that even when he makes a typo, his followers believe it to be a new word. In a tweet in November, he had written on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Padmavati which was embroiled in controversies. In the tweet, he had written, "Education more important thang Hoog hats".

His followers vigorously searched for what 'Hoog hats' means only to be told later by the Congress leader himself that he had made a typo. Tharoor blamed auto-correct to be the culprit and apologised for the error. Recently also, Tharoor had tweeted a post which said: "Auto-correct can go to hell".