Tharoor’s Tweet On Portuguese-Built Church Sparks Twitter Row

Tharoor expressed his admiration for Portuguese-built St Paul’s church in Diu, which Mohandas Pai objected to.

Shashi Tharoor expressed his admiration for St Paul’s churuch in Diu, built by the Portuguese in 1601. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/@ShashiTharoor)

Indian politician and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor on Thursday took to Twitter to express his admiration for St Paul's church in Diu, built by the Portuguese in 1601. The church, rededicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, had Tharoor in awe.

But the tweet did not go well with Mohandas Pai, who was a fomer director of the Infosys. His reaction tweet, called Tharoor “very shameful”.

An angry Mohandas Pai, a former member of the board at Infosys, responded. He wrote that his forefathers were driven out of Goa and killed by the Portuguese, who destroyed the Goan temples.

Tharoor Clarifies

Tharoor, however, clarified that he did not see the tweet as praising the Portuguese, but simply admiring the architecture.

Twitter Calls Pai ‘A Hypocrite’

Pai's tweet against Tharoor did not go too well with Twitter users. They soon dug up his tweets to show Pai's "hypocrisy". A particular Twitter user dug out a few of Pai’s old tweets, showing how he himself had called London his ‘favourite city’ even though he has accused the British of “raping India”.