Guwahati: In a social media faux pas, Union earth science minister Kiren Rijiju mistakenly shared a picture of the Maldives on X (formerly Twitter) while promoting tourism in Lakshwadeep, with hashtags #ExploreIndianIslands, #Lakshadweep, #DekhoApnaDesh and #IncredibleIndia.
Following backlash from social media users, the post was deleted from the official account of the minister.
A user in X said, “General sidenote: the social media folks running the minister’s account are most likely funded by taxpayer money. so WE are paying for this ridiculous garbage.”
Another post on X shared by former Indian cricketer Virendra Sehwag where he has posted four pictures claiming them to be from Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
But here also one user has promptly pointed out that one of those pictures is actually of Bora Bora Island in French Polynesia.
The user pointed out in X, “Hey @virendersehwag, The third pic you’ve shared is not from Bharat but of Bora Bora Island, French Polynesia.”
The trend of sharing pictures of beaches from India and primarily Lakshadweep started after three ministers from Maldives took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he shared a post on X and asked people to visit the Lakshadweep Island and explore the beauty of India.
The post didn’t go well with three ministers of Maldives who posted derogatory remarks against the PM.
This prompted the three being presently suspended from their present posts in the government.
The Maldivian foreign ministry said the government is aware of “derogatory remarks” on social media platforms against foreign leaders and that the personal views do not represent its position.