Civility a rare virtue in Indian-politics: Tharoor on Sitharaman's visit
What's the story
Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today called on Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is in hospital after suffering head injuries while performing a ritual at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram.
Tharoor tweeted about the visit and said that he is touched by the gesture of Sitharaman who met him "amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala."
He said that "civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics."
Twitter Post
Touched by gesture of Sitharaman who dropped by today: Tharoor
Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example! pic.twitter.com/XqbLf1iCR5
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 16, 2019
Details
Tharoor was injured while performing the 'Thulabharam' ritual
Tharoor, Thiruvananthapuram MP and party candidate in the April 23 LS polls, was injured when the hook of a weighing scale came off and its iron panel hit his head during the "Thulabharam" ritual.
He was admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical college hospital yesterday and is expected to be discharged today.
'Thulabharam' is a ritual in which a person is weighed against a commodity.
Ritual
Tharoor performed ritual by offering sugar equal to his weight
In 'Thulabharam', a person is weighed against a commodity such as flowers, grains, fruits and similar articles in temples and the equal value or quantity is then offered as a donation.
Monday being the Malayalam new year day ('Vishu'), Tharoor performed the ritual by offering sugar equal to his weight in the morning before embarking on his poll campaign.
Visits
Left front candidate, C Divakaran, also visited Tharoor at hospital
Sitharaman had reached Kerala yesterday night and held a roadshow at Thiruvananthapuram with BJP candidate Kummanam Rajashekaran along the coastal stretch.
She also addressed a campaign meeting at Attingal for Shobha Surendran.
C Divakaran, the CPI and left front candidate, who is opposing Tharoor, also visited him at the hospital and asked him to not be demoralized.
Tharoor tweeted about Divakaran's visit as well.
Twitter Post
I'm more determined than ever to see this through!: Tharoor
Very gracious of my LDF rival C.Divakaran to call this morning to express concern about my well-being. Said he had spoken to the Hospital Superintendent to assure himself I would be ok. “Don’t be demoralised”, he added. I’m not: I’m more determined than ever to see this through!
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 16, 2019
Information
Thiruvananthapuram constituency witnessing fierce fight among CPI, Congress, BJP
The Thiruvananthapuram constituency is witnessing a fierce triangular fight among the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF, Opposition Congress-led UDF, and BJP-led NDA. A few poll surveys by local language channels in the state predicted that the polls will be a neck-to-neck fight or win for the BJP.