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Journalism of Courage
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s calm response to a Twitter user calling her “sweetie”, while suggesting that she misquoted Swami Vivekanand, has won praise online.
On the occasion of Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary, Sitharaman shared an excerpt from ‘The Awakened India’. “Awake, arise, and dream no more! This is the land of dreams, where Karma Weaves unthreaded garlands with our thoughts …Be bold, and face The Truth! Be one with it! Let visions cease… The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda IV, pp 388-89,” read the tweet.
While it did not take long for the post to be flooded with reactions, a tweet by a particular user did not go down well with many.
Retweeting Sitharaman’s post, @advsanjoy wrote, “quotes from the Katha Upanishad & Swamiji’s adoption of the saying “arise awake”. Sweetie its “cease not until your goal is reached” not “dream no more”; unless it’s Budget 2020 that you are warning us about!”
It did not take much time for Sitharaman to counter his claims of misquoting, by saying, “Glad you’re taking interest. While he is oft-quoted w/the verse from Katha Upanishad, what I’ve excerpted, is from ‘The Awakened India’, written in Aug 1898 – BTW, I had cited the reference below the verse itself. Pub by Advaita Ashrama if you’re further interested.”
Many who came across the tweet criticised the user for the unseemly manner in which he addressed the minister. Sitaraman was also praised for her firm reply, without being sidetracked by the term. Take a look at some reactions here:
https://twitter.com/agni_stambha/status/1216235261295640576
https://twitter.com/vidhya_rams/status/1216293474795954176
https://twitter.com/SriniSridharan/status/1216243210210533376
https://twitter.com/SandeepParekh/status/1216227994705911809
