A sarcastic tweet on the famous Karnataka delicacy ‘Mysore Pak’ has now become the part of a huge controversy. Few Kannada media picked up the sarcastic tweets made by scientist and columnist Dr Anand Ranganathan on the origins of Mysore Pak leading to a fresh outrage against neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
The controversy began when noted scientist Dr Anand Ranganathan made sarcastic claims on the origins of Karnataka delicacy Mysore Pak. In a tweet, Dr Ranganathan tagged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while stating that he had received a token of appreciation ‘on behalf of the one-man-committee’ for granting of the Mysorepak GI tag to Tamilnadu.
Pleased to receive this token of appreciation, on behalf of the one-man-committee for granting of the Mysorepak GI tag to Tamilnadu.
Talks are proceeding smoothly. WDTT. pic.twitter.com/khppaVijXt
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) September 15, 2019
Tamil Nadu is home state to Dr Ranganathan and Finance Minister Sitharaman, both and the tweet was meant to be a joke. It has been one of Dr Ranganathan’s long time gags on Twitter. Ranganathan is a big fan of the delecacy had said that after meeting Finance Minister Sitharaman that talks are proceeding smoothly over granting of GI tag to Tamil Nadu, his home state.
However, no one had expected that a huge controversy would erupt over the issue of Mysore Pak, which originated in Mysuru during the rule of Wodeyar dynasty.
It first caught the eye when last night former Karnataka Home Minister and senior Congress leader MB Patil tweeted Dr Ranganathan’s tweet with a surprised/shocked emoji.
— M B Patil (@MBPatil) September 15, 2019
Unable to pick up the sarcasm made by Ranganathan, few Kannada media began to outrage against Tamil Nadu, for falsely claiming their rights over Kannada delicacy ‘Mysore Pak’.
The media soon targeted Nirmala Sitharaman for ‘backstabbing’ the people of Karnataka for siding with Tamil Nadu over the issue of Mysore Pak despite being elected from Karnataka on a Rajya Sabha ticket. Nirmala Sitharaman, whose home state is Tamil Nadu, was elected as Rajya Sabha member of Parliament from Karnataka.
Popular Kannada news channel, TV9 reported that Mysore Pak no longer belonged to Karnataka as Union Government awarded the GI Tag to Tamil Nadu. It further stated that the Narendra Modi government has constituted an one-man committee to grant Mysore Pak’s GI tag to Tamil Nadu.
Digvijaya News also slammed Nirmala Sitharaman as they took offence over Anand Ranganathan’s tweets. Digvijaya News claimed that they have exposed the hypocrisy of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who represents Karnataka in the upper house.
Mysore Pak or Mysuru Paka was first prepared in the kitchens of the Mysore Palace during the regime of Krishna Raja Wodeyar IV, by a palace cook named Kakasura Madappa. He came up with the name when he was asked its name, Madappa had simply named it as ‘Mysuru Paka’, which means ‘sweet from Mysuru’.
This is not the first time Dr Anand Ranganathan has been in a soup over food (pun intended). That too Mysorepak. In August 2015, he had put up a satirical tweet claiming Mysorepak is a Tamilian invention, as endorsed by Lord Macaulay.
As always, authentic documents come to the rescue. Here it is – confirmation that Mysorepak is a Tamilian invention. pic.twitter.com/GxSVfquwRN
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) August 2, 2015
Two years later, some of the media houses had taken the tweet on its face-value and credited Lord Macaulay for gifting the sweet to Tamilians. The ‘news’ made it to Times of India (TOI) and to many publications after that.
TOI: “In 1835, British officer Lord Macaulay had talked about the origins of Mysuru Pak during an address in the Indian Parliament.” This is just. UNBELIEVABLE. https://t.co/x8xDZhMqDW pic.twitter.com/V7R5VuXJWn
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) November 16, 2017
And now, four years after he first credited Tamilians for ‘inventing’ Mysorepak, it has come back to haunt him.
