Every now and then, Shashi Tharoor gets us acquainted with words that we have never heard before.
However, just when we thought he knows it all, he ended up making two blunders.
Wishing legendary poet Mirza Ghalib on his birthday, he tweeted some lines written by him.
ख़ुदा की मोहब्बत को फ़ना कौन करेगा?
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 20, 2019
सभी बन्दे नेक हों तो गुनाह कौन करेगा?
ऐ ख़ुदा मेरे दोस्तों को सलामत रखना
वरना मेरी सलामती की दुआ कौन करेगा
और रखना मेरे दुश्मनों को भी महफूज़
वरना मेरी तेरे पास आने की दुआ कौन करेगा…!!!
Mirza Ghalib’s 220th birthday. So many great lines….
That is where he went wrong because it was neither Ghalib’s birthday nor his work.
And the person to point that out was none other than lyricist Javed Akhtar. He replied to Tharoor’s tweet, pointing out that he has been misinformed.
Shashi ji , who ever has given you these lines should never be trusted again . It is obvious that some one had planted these lines in your repertoire to sabotage you literary credibility .
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) July 20, 2019
Not only this, Javed Akhtar called out many other people who had wrongly quoted Mirza Ghalib.
This too is not Ghalib .
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) July 20, 2019
— Zaid Burny (@drZaidburny) July 20, 2019
While other people decided to keep mum, Shashi Tharoor graciously accepted his mistake and posted an apology tweet:
Thanks to @Javedakhtarjadu & other friends, I realize I’ve been had. The lines are not Ghalib’s. Just as every clever quote is attributed to Winston Churchill even if he never said it, so it seems that whenever people like a shayari, they credit Ghalib for it! Apologies.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 21, 2019
