Ex-Minister In "Funny Instance" Is Now BJP Leader, Ram Madhav Reminded

Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav was targetted on social media today after he took a dig at the UPA, recounting a "funny instance" when a foreign minister of India once read out the speech of his counterpart from another country at a key United Nations meet. Within minutes, Twitter users offered a reality check.

At a meet of the party's youth forum in Hyderabad, Ram Madhav Madhav was talking of the visibility India has gained in international forums. Both Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister are noticed around the world, he said.

"But at one point, India's external affairs ministers were never noticed at international forums including the UN. There were funny instances like once an Indian foreign minister reading the speech of foreign minister of another country," he said.

The minister he was referring to was SM Krishna, who, in 2011, had inadvertently read out the speech of his counterpart from Portugal for nearly three minutes at the UN Security Council, before the error was pointed out by Indian diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri. The minister did not realise his mistake, apparently because the first portion related to general issues related to the UN, development and security.

Users on Twitter pointed out that the BJP has recently welcomed SM Krishna, who was the UPA's foreign minister from 2009 to 2012. Some posted a picture of the former foreign minister with BJP chief Amit Shah, when he switched sides. Others called it a "face palm" situation for Mr Madhav. Yet others pointed out the need for caution in political discourse.

That Foreign Minister (SM Krishna) is today a BJP member

And Ambassador who gave the wrong speech to SM Krishna is a BJP Minister (Hardeep Singh Puri)

Basically BJP is a resting place for such ppl! https://t.co/qjJ8cp21px

— Sid (@sidmtweets) October 28, 2018

Minister who was reading speech of other country already joined BJP..
Face palm... pic.twitter.com/4OOhtiV4iH

— Zahir Khan🇮🇳 (@Official_Z_Khan) October 28, 2018

A veteran Congressman, Mr Krishna had joined the BJP in March last year, hurt at being sidelined by the leaders in Karnataka. Hardeep Singh Puri in the junior minister of the housing and urban affairs department in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.