Raut turns poetic as it pours in Mumbai, opposition sees red

With heavy rains bringing Mumbai to a halt on Tuesday, Sanjay Raut, a senior leader of the ruling coalition partner Shiv Sena, turned poetic on Twitter. The opposition, which was not in a lyrical mood, slammed him for showing "insensitivity" on a day when many people died in rain-related accidents.

Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, tweeted a Hindi couplet which translated as "These raindrops must harbour some desire, otherwise who falls back to the land after ascending to the skies". The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) accused him of mocking people.

"This is utter insensitivity. It is like rubbing salt into people's wounds. They (the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena) are running away from their responsibility and ridiculing the people," said the NCP's chief spokesperson Nawab Malik. Heavy rains threw normal life in the city out of gear on Monday and Tuesday, bringing rail, road and air traffic to a halt.

As many as 21 people died after a compound wall collapsed around 2 am in Pimpripada area of Malad.