Panned for describing the Nepal flash floods as "drama" in a post, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday clarified his use of the word, saying he intended it in the sense of “a state, situation or series of events involving intensely clashing forces".
Tharoor, however, said he regrets the choice of a word that could be so easily "misinterpreted".
"For all those fulminating in outrage about my use of the word 'drama' in my first tweet from Nepal, the word does not only mean something theatrical. It is also defined as 'a state, situation or series of events involving intensely clashing forces'," the Thiruvananthapuram MP said on X.
"That's the sense in which I intended it. But I do regret the choice of a word that could be so easily misinterpreted," Tharoor said.
His remarks came a day after he was panned for describing the Nepal flash floods as "drama that had taken place in the hills" and overlooking the nuance of the words.
The comment led to a veritable backlash on social media, with one post questioning the "poor choice of words for someone with such a rich vocabulary" and others labelling him insensitive.
Expressing concern over the disaster in an X post on Thursday, Tharoor said, "Took off for Kathmandu yesterday, blissfully unaware of the drama that had taken place in the hills and caused such catastrophic damage."
He went on to say, "A severe, sudden flash flood struck northern Nepal's Rasuwa district near the Tibet border, causing widespread destruction along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers. Global warming and/or an earthquake in Tibet may have caused a large chunk of a glacier to break off and fall into the valley below, experts surmise."
(With inputs from PTI)