What Miss World Manushi has to do with demonetisation? Tharoor has the answer

A day after India's Manushi Chhillar won the coveted Miss World 2017 crown at a grand event in China, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor sparked off a storm on Twitter as he sought to make a pun on her surname connecting it to the demonetisation.

“What a mistake to demonetise our currency! BJP should have realised that Indian cash dominates the globe: look, even our Chhillar has become Miss World!” Tharoor wrote on the micro-blogging site on Sunday.

Chillar, the family name of Manushi, sounds similar to the Indian word chillar, which can roughly be translated as fractional monetary units or pennies.

However, the former bureaucrat's sense of humour doesn't seem to have gone down well with many Twitteretti who accused him of insulting Manushi as well as womanhood.

“Plz don't make fun of the girl who made us proud...,” wrote one user, while many others argued that the statement was in bad taste.

As the controversy boiled over, the Thiruvananthapuram MP offered an apology saying 'no offence was meant to a bright young girl'.

“Guess the pun IS the lowest form of humour, & the bilingual pun lower still! Apologies to the many who seem to have been righteously offended by a light-hearted tweet today. Certainly no offence was meant to a bright young girl whose answer i've separately praised. Please: Chill!”

Chillar, a 20-year-old medical student from Haryana, edged out top four contestants from England, France, Kenya and Mexico.

In the top five round, Chhillar was asked which profession according to her deserved the highest salary.

"All mothers sacrifice so much for their kids. So, I think it is the job of a mother that deserves the highest salary," Chhillar had said to a wide applause.

Chhillar brought the coveted crown back to India after 17 years; the last Indian to bag it was Priyanka Chopra in 2000.