May 27, 2013: Subramanian Swamy, the president of Janata Party, raked up controversy over twitter by tweeting that being gay is a mental disorder. Responding to a tweet, Swamy tweeted from his official twitter account @Swamy39, “You need to go to a hospital. Being gay is mental disorder.”
The homophobic tweet by Mr. Swamy instantly attracted criticism from the twitterati, many of whom expressed their shock at the ignorance of the politician. One such twitter user @riffraaf tweeted: “@Swamy39 No, it’s not a mental disorder. The sooner you get over your ignorance and get educated, the better.” Gay rights activist Harish Iyer responded to the tweet by offering free counseling. Harish tweeted: “I think swamy you need to get educated. Let’s meeet. I offer free counselling to homophobes.”
Subramanian Swamy is not only a politician, but is also an economist who has taught at Harvard University. Mr. Swamy is known for his Hindu-right wing views as well. In 2011, after he published another controversial article about “wiping out Islamic terror” and declaring “India as a Hindu Rashtra”, his services at Harvard were discontinued. The decision by Delhi High Court to decriminalize homosexuality in India has been challenged in the Supreme Court by various groups, including right wing Hindu groups. In 2011, the Health Minister of India Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad had called homosexuality as unnatural and a foreign disease at a HIV/AIDS conference. Mr. Azad had later retracted his statement, saying he had been quoted out of context.
However Mr. Swamy, unfazed by criticism, tweeted another homophobic tweet, “Looks like most CRTs are “queer”” (CRT being a derogatory reference to Congress people/supporters)