Congress IT cell head Divya Spandana had a major meltdown on Twitter after people, including Congress-friendly journalists, pointed out that her tweet comparing PM Modi to ‘bird pooping’ was not in good taste. She took to Twitter to let the world know that she, as a former member of parliament and Congress party’s social media and digital communication in-charge, does not ‘give two hoots’ about the views of the voters.
When you’re done huffing & puffing take a breath & hold a mirror to yourselves. My views are mine. I don’t give two hoots about yours. I’m not going to clarify what I meant and what I didn’t cos you don’t deserve one.
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) November 1, 2018
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. When Hurricane Birdie hit Twitter, no one, including Congress-friendly journalists could escape the ire.
First, she accused The Wire‘s Rohini Singh, who called out Divya’s tweet as being distasteful, of having a ‘dirty mind’.
What a dirty mind. https://t.co/nrzQCVgvWw
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) November 1, 2018
Then she corrected herself and accused Singh of having a ‘convoluted, manipulative, dirty mind’.
Actually, let me rephrase my previous tweet. This is more apt-
what a convoluted, manipulative, dirty mind. https://t.co/nrzQCVgvWw— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) November 1, 2018
Ouch.
Next to come in the line of fire was Shekhar Coup.. err. Shekhar Gupta of ThePrint. Gupta had wondered aloud that first Divya had ‘ruined further the taste of our already rotten political discourse’ after which Divya went on to insult our collective intelligence.
First you ruin further the taste of our already rotten political discourse, then you insult our collective intelligence by claiming you’re referring to something else. This isn’t politics. How does this square with Rahul’s embrace of Modi with a pretense/promise of decency? https://t.co/ZpYF6YXzfk
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) November 1, 2018
He then wondered if this is the decency Rahul meant when he had hugged PM Modi?
Triggered, Divya Spandana pointed out that Gupta talking of standards is more like the kettle calling the pot black.
And the right political discourse is having a gossip column masquerading as ‘juicy information’ in your publication- clearly setting high standards! https://t.co/tfpOH5eILg
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) November 1, 2018
The next casualty of the fury was NDTV‘s Nidhi Razdan.
At first Congress-friendly ‘journalist’, Pallavi Ghosh had ‘clarified’ from her ‘sources’ that Divya’s tweet was not in reference to PM Modi.
Then what is it a reference to?
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) November 1, 2018
Right after the ‘clarification’ from Ghosh, Nidhi tweeted how Congress sources say that the party does not approve of the language used by Divya.
Congress sources say the party does not approve of this language used by Divya Spandana against the PM. Party should come on record. Once again, language used marks a low level in our politics https://t.co/ZrlRerjETx
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) November 1, 2018
Shocked at Divya’s brazenness, Nidhi again tweeted how Divya, who holds an official position in the Congress, cannot absolve herself of the responsibility of telling the nation what exactly she meant by her tweet.
Actually you can’t afford to take that position. You are a public figure, you represent a political party with an official designation. So the people of India DO deserve to know what you meant https://t.co/gELDg8Bgyn
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) November 1, 2018
Divya hit out on Nidhi and refused to offer any further explanation.
Not my circus, not my monkeys. https://t.co/ANUANEt6oZ
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) November 1, 2018
Nidhi, as a responsible citizen of India who votes, was shocked at being referred to as a monkey.
You didn’t just call India’s voters monkeys did you ? ? https://t.co/xujqutAK8Y
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) November 1, 2018
Not taking the slow comprehension skills of Nidhi lying down, Divya suggested Nidhi visits Srinagar to feel better. One wonders why Divya suggested that Nidhi visits Srinagar specifically.
Take a trip to Srinagar. Feel better. https://t.co/5acDbDzDNX
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) November 1, 2018
To that, Nidhi retorted at how she wishes she could do that, but she has an actual job to do, because of which she couldn’t.
? how I wish I could. But I have a real job. I think you should go, the cool, fresh air of Kashmir will do you a world of good. Signing off https://t.co/yFrLf1dbrM
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) November 1, 2018
A friendly reminder: A few weeks back Twitter was abuzz with speculation of promotion/punishment of Divya Spandana after she changed her bio on the Twitter profile, removing her designation as Congress IT cell head. This infighting between ‘journalists’ who are overtly sympathetic towards Rahul Gandhi, and Divya Spandana who is considered to be a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, is only furthering speculation that all might not be well within Congress and this might be an indirect message to Divya that her time in the party is up.
Not taking the job-jibe lying down, Divya responded in kind.
Finally realisation dawns! People don’t have jobs in this country and you’re one of the lucky few who do, you must focus on that. So long ?? https://t.co/juHar0nanj
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) November 1, 2018
So, if Nidhi, who has a job with NDTV, is lucky to have a job, as ‘few’ people have one, one wonders whether Divya is a lucky one or the unlucky one?
