And again, continuing his tradition of rattling off a controversy in all his foreign tours, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kick-started yet another controversy and this time, right on his arrival in Moscow, Russia.
Angry and sarcastic netizens took several sarcastic jibes at the PM for disrespecting the National Anthem protocol during his ceremonial welcome by the Russian national music band.
A video has been doing the rounds in which Modi was seen walking away as soon as the band started playing the Indian national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. The protocol of Jana Gana Mana demands every Indian citizen to stand up in respect to the song.
While Modi simply followed a Russian dignitary’s suggestion to walk ahead, one of Modi’s protocol officers was quick to suggest the Indian PM to go back to the same spot to stand until the band completed the song.
Soon, social media was set on fire with the #ModiInsultsNationalAnthem hashtag trending prominently. This was not the first time that Modi was caught in such storm. In the past, Modi was targeted for ‘disrespecting’ the national flag on two occasions.
While Modi was once blasted for presenting an autographed national flag to American President Barack Obama, has was later attacked for sitting obliviously in getting of a national flag which was placed upside down.
Here are some of the sarcastic jokes on Modi’s protocol blunder:
National Anthem insults Modi, Why didn’t it pause when PM started to walk? #modiInsultsIndia
Modi is odd even formula. One day he ll insult national flag. Next day he ll insult national anthem
Who didn’t they stop playing national anthem when PM was walking around? #TraitorRussians
Waiting breathlessly for bhakts to talk about national anthem in cinemas halls