On 23 March 2015, the Minister of State (External Affairs) Gen V K Singh (retd) set the media and the opposition on fire when he posted the following tweets with hashtags: #Disgust and #Duty from his twitter handle after attending the Pakistan Day celebrations in the country’s high commission in New Delhi.
#DUTY A task or action that a person is bound to perform for moral or legal reasons
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
#DUTY The force that binds one morally or legally to one’s obligations — Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
#DUTY A job or service allocated
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
#DISGUST To sicken or fill with loathing — Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
#DISGUST To offend the moral sense, principles, or taste of
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
The Pakistan National Day reception started at about 7 PM. Gen VK Singh (retd) left the High Commission within an hour without eating or drinking there. His first tweet appeared at 10:01 pm, and as soon as it was posted, it started attracting series of attacks and speculations from left, right and center. At 11:06 PM on the same night, Singh clarified that he was disgusted to see how media was twisting the fact:
#’Disgust’ed to see how certain sections of the media are twisting this issue
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 23, 2015
Singh was already asked about his representation at the Pakistani high commission in the morning, to which he replied:
The government of India had to sent an MoS. They sent me and I went there and came back,” he said replying to a question about his presence at the reception.
However, media kept twisting and spinning it with spicy headlines. Between 1:29 min and 1:40 min, Rahul Kanwal declared that these tweets were against Narendra Modi and Shiv Aroor confirmed that it was off course an open annoyance against Modi https://youtu.be/IIdm27D23bM?t=79 In case, the video is not working on this site, you may click the youtube link mentioned in it. In a press conference organized on 24 March 2015, Gen VK Singh said, ”Rahul Kanwal and his channel misinterpreted his statements.” However, Rahul Kanwal blatantly lied in his show (http://headlinestoday.intoday.in/programme/section-66a-shreya-singhal-scrapped-supreme-court-free-speech-social-media/1/425601.html) between 11:00 min and 11:40 minute by saying that he was just asking questions and not interpreting anything. If that was just a question, what does the declaration in the first video means, and what does the following tweet mean:
Does @PMOIndia agree with @Gen_VKSingh that he’s disgusted with what happened at @Paknewdelhi dinner but had to go out of sense of duty? — Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) March 23, 2015
It was expected from Manish Tewari, as an opposition leader, to attack the ex-General and ask him to quit from his role, even after Singh clarified his tweet posted at the previous night:
If Mr#duty#Disgust is so disgusted with double standards of his govt on Pak he should quit? Other Min in past refused to attend PAK EVENTS! — Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) March 24, 2015
Sad to see a General who was ostensibly pressurized to go down the # duty# disgust route not walk the talk on resignation but shoots media! — Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) March 24, 2015
However, media jumped, concluded and twisted the #disgust according to their convenience
Pic of @Gen_VKSingh, #disgusted at having to share biryani with separatists and Pakistanis, all in the line of #duty! pic.twitter.com/AdhXfS5xLm
— Ajai Shukla (@ajaishukla) March 24, 2015
@sandeepmadhukar why me? Shekhar and I only journos to praise decision that @Gen_VKSingh attended event as mature — barkha dutt (@BDUTT) March 23, 2015
Was it Duty or Disgust that made General VK Singh dress in the colours of the Pakistani national flag for the Pakistan Day event?
— Seema Goswami (@seemagoswami) March 24, 2015
Was it just a coincidence or by design that @Gen_VKSingh joined Pak Day celebrations sporting a green #Modijacket? And felt disgusted later!
— Prabhu Chawla (@PrabhuChawla) March 25, 2015
It is sad that the self-declared elitist media which boasts about ethics and sensibility of information sharing creates strong narratives and headlines after reading a 140 characters tweet.
*Special thanks to @CrimeMasterV2 for providing video links and information.
