In a hugely embarrassing gaffe, Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked even as the Indian national anthem was being played in Russia.While the Russian soldiers giving the guard of honour remained at attention, PM Modi walked away. To be fair to Modi, an official seemed to gesture it was time for the Indian PM to move.
But just as he moved away, somebody realised the mistake and ran to stop Modi. Perhaps he was so fixated on protocol that he forgot that the Indian national anthem was still playing.After the gaffe, PM Modi came back and stood in attention position for the rest of the duration of the National Anthem.
It didn’t take long for the incident to go viral on social media.
Why didn’t you stand up to national anthem? Ameesha Patel “Main down thi” Narendra Modi “Main high tha”
— Rofl Gandhi-Trumpian (@RoflGandhi_) December 23, 2015
Maybe he thought the national anthem was background music for his heroic walk. #ModiInsultsNationalAnthem
— Shirish Kunder (@ShirishKunder) December 23, 2015
31% idiots voted this modi so that he can insult National flag national anthem Nehru Gandhi #IndiaAshamedOfModi#ModiInsultsNationalAnthem
— Vinay Dokania (@vinaydokania) December 23, 2015
It is purely the mistake of Moscow’s officials. They should not have played National Anthem when Modi was walking. https://t.co/e2pr06YSRG
— Rashid Eqbal (@RsdEqb) December 23, 2015
the song Tagore wrote to welcome Mountbatten was made national anthem by Congress…and now they’re blaming Modi LOL
— Kaveri M. (@AudaciousK_) December 23, 2015
And as one can see, most of it was directed at Modi and the bhakts. Mistakes happen and perhaps the PIB should put out the official version of events out soon. If there is anything they have learnt from the past then they certainly shouldn’t try to photoshop their way out of this one.
You can see the video of the incident below:
In Russian protocol gaffe, PM Narendra Modi walks during national anthem http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/PM-Modi-in-Russia/liveblog/50297504.cms
Posted by The Times of India on Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Featured image source: Screenshot