By reading out the Portuguese Foreign Minister's speech for 'three to five minutes' at the UN Security Council, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has once again invited the barbs he has so long tried to avoid. He says his mistake is no big deal, but the rest of the country is having a field day lampooning India's favourite 78-year-old scapegoat.
SM Krishna moments after realising his gaffe at the UNSC.
Sample this from social networking site Twitter: One tweet says, "Hahaha! Epic comedy this". "It was the best ever speech he ever made," another says.
And here's more: "Maybe Portugal has outsourced its speech to Bangalore," read one Tweet; "Look at the bright side. We can now lay claim to Cristiano Ronaldo," tweeted another; a third wondered if SM Krishna should be shown the door, like his Pakistani counterpart SM Qureshi, who was sidelined in a cabinet reshuffle on Thursday.
And the most scathing of all: "A mistake? Why do we have a mistake like him in the government?"
Krishna's aides dismissed the critisicism, saying the mistake "could have happened to anyone", insisting that Krishna was only reading out the opening pleasantries, which are, for the most part, common in all speeches.
But for those present at the the debate on security and development, Krishna was well past the welcomes and thank yous when he was saved further blushes by India's envoy to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri. During his five minutes of fame, Krishna said, "On a more personal note, allow me to express my profound satisfaction regarding the happy coincidence of having two members of the Portuguese Speaking Countries, Brazil and Portugal, together here today."
Strangely, even while reading out these lines, Krishna did not realise that these exact words were spoken by his Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado just minutes earlier.
It was then that Puri interrupted Krishna and told him politely, "You can start again."
SM Krishna has since downplayed the incident: "There was nothing wrong in it. There were so many papers spread in front of me, so by mistake the wrong speech was taken out."
He says the boo-boo was minor, but the feedback has been far from it.
Meanwhile, the official explanation did not cut much ice with chief opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which said in New Delhi that the faux pas had embarrassed India at an international forum.
"This is bound to happen when we have people who read speeches rather then deliver them," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said in Delhi.
Sitharaman added that Krishna's gaffe has embarrassed India at an international forum. "Today, the level of incompetence has reached its optimum," she said.
One tweeter sums it up: Next time he should write his speech in Kannada.
Source: India Syndicate/Agencies
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