The official Twitter handle of the Ministry of Railways on Wednesday posted pictures of lady coolies, lifting heavy luggage on the train stations.
"Working for Indian Railways, these lady coolies have proved that they are second to none !! We salute them," read the caption.
However, the post received huge flak on the microblogging website for "glorifying" the lady coolies.
A Twitter user wrote, "Instead of glorifying such harsh working conditions in 2020, you should work towards improving it. Have minimum sense what to do PR around."
Another one said, "Beti bachao, beti padhao, coolie banao? You salute them? You are surely out of your mind. Women are second to none is something we already knew. They need not work as coolies to "prove" that. This tweet is an exhibition of everything wrong with the government. Shameful!"
While a user pointed it out that that the Modi government had asked to drop the word coolie and instead call them "sahayak".
Here are some of the Twitter reactions:
