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Chetan Bhagat Upset With DD News Over Half Girlfriend Remark On Twitter

Chetan Bhagat's Twitter Spat With DD News Over Half Girlfriend Remark
To go with India-Bollywood-film-literature,FEATURE by Udita JhunjhunwalaIn this photograph taken on July 17, 2014, Indian author Chetan Bhagat poses at his residence in Mumbai. An Indian investment banker turned wildly successful novelist is taking a career turn in Bollywood, with a screenplay he says will tackle social issues in the same vein as the books that made him a youth icon. AFP PHOTO/Indranil MUKHERJEE (Photo credit should read INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)
INDRANIL MUKHERJEE via Getty Images
To go with India-Bollywood-film-literature,FEATURE by Udita JhunjhunwalaIn this photograph taken on July 17, 2014, Indian author Chetan Bhagat poses at his residence in Mumbai. An Indian investment banker turned wildly successful novelist is taking a career turn in Bollywood, with a screenplay he says will tackle social issues in the same vein as the books that made him a youth icon. AFP PHOTO/Indranil MUKHERJEE (Photo credit should read INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)

A well timed apology by a national broadcaster today stopped a Twitter spat from escalating between India’s top selling author Chetan Bhagat who took offense to a tweet by DD News Hindi he claimed ‘mocked his work’. The handle referred to his latest book 'Half Girlfriend' disparagingly and was later forced to retract.

The DD Hindi News tweet that sparked Bhagat’s outrage.

Bhagat responded with a tweet of his own questioning the need for a national broadcaster to target him.

Can someone explain to me why official government owned channel handle has to tweet like this and mock my work? pic.twitter.com/tRfMPfeItN

— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) December 8, 2014

DD News Hindi apologised soon after.

We disown the earlier tweet on languages and some authors. We have deleted it and also taking further remedial action.

— DD न्यूज़ (@DDNewsHindi) December 8, 2014

And Bhagat accepted DD's apology.

Courteous of @DDNewsHindi to respond with an apology. No big deal guys Thanks.And spare the staff please. Happens :) pic.twitter.com/cCRonQpagT

— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) December 8, 2014

As usual, the rest of Twitter had something to say.

As much as I hate Chetan Bhagat's work, its wrong on DD News part to criticize it from official account.

— Amit (@TambadeAmit) December 8, 2014

Heh! @chetan_bhagat is livid. DD News posts a comment mocking his work. As a not so great man said, 'follow karna hai to kar, varna kat le.'

— Abhishek Baxi (@baxiabhishek) December 8, 2014

So a keyboard happy DD Hindi news staffer mocks Chetan Bhagat. Dissing self made people we're (probably) envious of is a national ailment.

— Shilpa Anand (@shilpaanand) December 8, 2014

What DD news did was totally wrong. They can't call me a literature. pic.twitter.com/nxPD1ucpup

— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhugat) December 8, 2014

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.