Shyamala, the well-known anchor, and official spokesperson for the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), has found herself at the center of social media criticism after referencing a moral story during a recent press meet . The story, originally shared by a Tamil director on The Kapil Sharma Show, was used by Shyamala to make a political point, but it has since sparked ridicule and debate online.
The story, which carries a painful moral about the importance of keeping promises, goes as follows:
One cold night, a billionaire met an old, poor man outside. He asked him, “Don’t you feel cold being outside and not wearing any coat?” The old man replied, “I don’t have one, but I’ve gotten used to it.” The billionaire said, “Wait for me. I will enter my house now and bring you one.” The poor man was overjoyed and agreed to wait. However, the billionaire got busy inside his house and forgot about the old man. The next morning, he remembered his promise and went outside to find the old man dead from the cold. The old man had left a note saying, “When I didn’t have any warm clothes, I had the power to fight the cold because I was used to it. But when you promised to help me, I got attached to your promise, and that took away my power to resist.”
Moral: Don’t promise anything if you can’t keep your promise. It might not mean anything to you, but it could mean everything to someone else.
While the story itself is widely appreciated for its emotional depth and life lesson, Shyamala’s use of it in a political context has drawn mixed reactions. During the press meet, she reportedly used the story to criticize opposition leaders, particularly targeting Chandrababu Naidu and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), accusing them of making empty promises to the public.
However, her analogy did not sit well with many social media users, who found the comparison inappropriate and forced. Critics argued that the story, which is meant to highlight the human cost of broken promises, was being used for political point-scoring rather than addressing genuine issues. Memes and jokes flooded platforms like Twitter and Facebook, with users mocking the spokesperson for using a heartfelt narrative in what they deemed an irrelevant political context.
One user tweeted, “When you run out of political arguments, just borrow a moral story from a Tamil director and hope no one notices!” Another commented, “Shyamala’s version of politics: When in doubt, tell a story. Logic optional”.
