Amul baby’ is healthy, focused child: Shashi Tharoor

NEW DELHI: The Congress MP from Kerala Shashi Tharoor has said that “Amul baby” represents a healthy and focused child and Kerala chief minister V S Achuthanandan’s comment need not be taken as an insult.

Amid the controversy over Achuthanandan’s barb likening Rahul Gandhi to the “Amul baby” , Tharoor’s comment represents smart humour in contrast to Congress which criticized the veteran CPM leader. While AICC had said the CM’s desperate tone betrayed a realization in the CPM that it would soon be history, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had called it “uncivilized” .

However, a day after the Kerala polls, Tharoor tweeted that he did not understand what was the fuss about. “Amul babies are fit, strong, focused on the future. (They) symbolize white revolution which brought milk to the masses,” he tweeted, making light of the comment.

He rebuffed a view that Gujarat-based Amul represented Congress’s rival BJP and Narendra Modi. Calling it “utterly butterly nonsense” , the former UN diplomat said Amul predated saffron rule in the state and said it was the Congress government which had nurtured the top brand.

Achutanandan’s offensive against Rahul injected excitement to the Kerala elections, turning the last days of the assembly campaign into a “VS vs Rahul” affair.

VS’s dig now Amul ad:

Kerala CM V S Achuthanandan calling Rahul Gandhi an “Amul baby” has given the dairy giant its latest billboard. The new catchline goes: “They both are Amul Babies!”