 "Chetan Bhagat wants to know what exactly historians do and Twitter is quick to tell him")
Chetan Bhagat irked historians everywhere with his extremely banal tweet questioning what exactly they do. He was of course making light of the fact that 53 historians are protesting against what they feel is rising intolerance in the country by returning awards given to them by the government. After writers, artists, filmmakers and scientists, over 50 historians on Thursday came out strongly against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not making any reassuring statement following concerns over “highly vitiated atmosphere” prevailing in the country. A total of 53 historians including leading names like Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, KN Pannikar and Mridula Mukherjee have in a joint statement released by Sahmat raised their serious concerns over recent developments. “Differences of opinion are being sought to be settled by using physical violence. Arguments are met not with counter arguments but with bullets,” the statement said referring to the Dadri lynching incident and the recent ink attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni during a book launch function in Mumbai. In response to the statement, Chetan Bhagat had this to say on Twitter:
What do historians do? I am genuinely curious. This happened. Then this happened. Then this. Ok work done for the day.
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 30, 2015
Twitter responded with a huge resounding crack and came down on the author for his failed attempt at being funny.
@chetan_bhagat What do authors do? I am genuinely curious. Judge one talent show, then judge one dance show. Ok work done for the day.
— Akshar Pathak (@AksharPathak) October 30, 2015
It of course ended up becoming a recurring theme among Twitterati.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAlso for @chetan_bhagat, what do artists do, brush here, brush there, done for the day. Scientists, microscope here, telescope there, done..
— ranjona banerji 🇮🇳 (@ranjona) October 30, 2015
And for @chetan_bhagat, engineers and mechanics, nut here, bolt there... Hmmm. That ought to do it for my day.
— ranjona banerji 🇮🇳 (@ranjona) October 30, 2015
What does @chetan_bhagat do? Type some words, then some more, then a paragraph and then ok work done for the day. https://t.co/QkrD0kB8Od
— Dave Besseling (@davebesseling) October 30, 2015
For a writer of impact to make such an ignorant statement is shocking. Even science is history @chetan_bhagat
— Suchitra Krishnamoorthi (@suchitrak) October 30, 2015
Chetan Bhagat's next book: 'Making India Stupid.' https://t.co/xSDP6bZkjD
— Amit Varma (@amitvarma) October 30, 2015
What did Chetan Bhagat's professors at the IIT and IIM do? I'm genuinely curious.
— Sayantan Ghosh (@sayantansunnyg) October 30, 2015
Chetan Bhagat tried to backtrack and pointed out that his tweet was meant to be a “joke”.
In case it was not blatantly obvious that historian tweet was a joke. Made a million of them on writers and engineers before. Duh!
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 30, 2015
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