NEW DELHI: In the rush to promote Indian beach holidays instead of foreign shores like Maldives, at least a few Indian celebrities and a minister had to eat humble pie on social media when they erroneously posted images of Maldives believing them to be of Lakshadweep.
Among those called out for promoting Maldives while pitching for Lakshadweep was Union minister Kiren Rijiju who posted two pictures asking domestic tourists to explore Indian islands.Rijiju was called out for this, after which he deleted his post.
Former cricketer Virendra Sehwag was also left red-faced after one of the four pictures he posted was of Bora Bora island in French Polynesia. In a tweet on January 7, Sehwag said many unexplored destinations in India had huge potential and needed some infrastructure support. “Bharat is known for converting all aapda into avsar, and this dig at our country and our PM by Maldives ministers is a great avsar for Bharat to create just the necessary infrastructure to make them attractive to tourists and boost out economy,” he said. Though people on social media pointed to the error, the cricketer did not delete or correct his post.
Actor Ranveer Singh too posted pictures of Maldives with a ‘ChaloBharatDekhe’ hashtag, urging people to make 2024 about exploring India and experiencing its culture. He deleted his post later.
The controversy and the resultant effort by celebrities to vouch for domestic destinations also led to some mirth on social media. Comic Vir Das pointed to the peculiar situation where celebs holidaying on the island cluster in the Indian Ocean were feeling the pressure to not acknowledge their visit as a result of the row . “Firstly, happy Lakshadweep is getting some love. Secondly, somewhere in the Maldives, right now, is an Indian celebrity/influencer who didn’t eat carbs for two weeks, took the best vacation photos ever, and is terrified to post them,” he said.
Among those called out for promoting Maldives while pitching for Lakshadweep was Union minister Kiren Rijiju who posted two pictures asking domestic tourists to explore Indian islands.Rijiju was called out for this, after which he deleted his post.
Former cricketer Virendra Sehwag was also left red-faced after one of the four pictures he posted was of Bora Bora island in French Polynesia. In a tweet on January 7, Sehwag said many unexplored destinations in India had huge potential and needed some infrastructure support. “Bharat is known for converting all aapda into avsar, and this dig at our country and our PM by Maldives ministers is a great avsar for Bharat to create just the necessary infrastructure to make them attractive to tourists and boost out economy,” he said. Though people on social media pointed to the error, the cricketer did not delete or correct his post.
Actor Ranveer Singh too posted pictures of Maldives with a ‘ChaloBharatDekhe’ hashtag, urging people to make 2024 about exploring India and experiencing its culture. He deleted his post later.
The controversy and the resultant effort by celebrities to vouch for domestic destinations also led to some mirth on social media. Comic Vir Das pointed to the peculiar situation where celebs holidaying on the island cluster in the Indian Ocean were feeling the pressure to not acknowledge their visit as a result of the row . “Firstly, happy Lakshadweep is getting some love. Secondly, somewhere in the Maldives, right now, is an Indian celebrity/influencer who didn’t eat carbs for two weeks, took the best vacation photos ever, and is terrified to post them,” he said.
