On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the G7 summit virtually and represented India as a guest country for the second time in his tenure. Earlier, the Prime Minister had participated in a G7 summit in 2019. Prior to Narendra Modi too, India has been attending G8 summits (which included Russia until 2014) beginning with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and later under Dr Manmohan Singh’s tenure. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday, after Prime Minister Modi’s address to the G7 summit, took to Twitter and said PM Modi sought support for India and South Africa’s proposal for an intellectual property waiver at WTO for the crucial global vaccination plan.
Nirmala Sitharaman also inadvertently said this was the first time India was invited as a guest country to a G7 summit. Realising the inaccuracy of this statement, Sitharaman herself issued a clarification soon after, saying India indeed attended the said summits earlier as well. Despite the finance minister issuing a clarification to her tweet, on Monday morning, journalists and Congress party minions decided to ‘fact check’ Nirmala Sitharaman, only to end up later with egg on their faces.
The Hindu’s Suhasini Haider was among the first to point out how the Finance Minister had the wrong information, and that India had attended G7 summits earlier as well. This was despite the fact that Sitharaman had issued a corrigendum on Sunday night itself.
Actually India has participated as a guest country at G7 several times since 2003, when PM Vajpayee was invited. PM Singh was invited too, esp from 2005-09, and PM Modi was also a guest invitee to France in 2019. https://t.co/N8S5ELjUWt
— Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) June 14, 2021
Replying to Suhasini Haider’s ‘fact check’, the Finance Minister said, “Thanks (Suhasini) for your alertness this morning. However, you may also want to see the follow-up tweet issued soon after the one you’re quoting, both of which were last night. In case you missed it.”
Thanks, @suhasinih for your alertness this morning. However, you may also want to see the follow-up tweet issued soon after the one you’re quoting, both of which were last night :) ICYMI: https://t.co/A75Jgulzmw https://t.co/O7GMae9yZg
— Nirmala Sitharaman (Modi Ka Parivar) (@nsitharaman) June 14, 2021
But Suhasini Haider of the Hindu was hardly done. She was out to prove a point. So, in yet another futile endeavour, the ‘senior journalist’ probed Nirmala Sitharaman, saying, “Thank you Minister…but as others might make the same mistake, may be best to delete your tweet?”
To this unwarranted dictation of how the Finance Minister should run her Twitter handle, Sitharaman replied saying, “Your caution is well taken, but I prefer not deleting tweets — especially since I haven’t left any misleading information dangling here. I did do my due diligence to add on, would’ve expected a senior journalist such as yourself to take a minute to do the same. Thank you regardless. Have a good week.”
Your caution is well taken, but I prefer not deleting tweets — esp since I haven’t left any misleading info dangling here. I did do my due diligence to add on, would’ve expected a sr journalist such as yourself to take a min to do the same. Thank you regardless. Have a good week.
— Nirmala Sitharaman (Modi Ka Parivar) (@nsitharaman) June 14, 2021
Deleting a tweet in which Nirmala Sitharaman quoted herself to rectify makes no sense – but for “senior journalists” and minions from the Congress party, this was too difficult to comprehend. Supriya Shrinate of the Congress – known best for calling BJP’s Sambit Patra a “gandi naali ka keeda (worm of a dirty drain)” – jumped in as well, saying, “No Nirmala Sitharaman ji, India was invited as a guest country at G7 several times-2003 Atalji was invited, between 2005-2009 Dr Manmohan Singh ji was invited multiple times. You must get your facts right while cheerleading.”
No @nsitharaman ji, India was invited as a guest country at G7 several times-2003 Atalji was invited, between 2005-09 Dr Manmohan Singh ji was invited multiple times
You must get your facts right while cheerleading https://t.co/PMkh9hEZZf
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) June 14, 2021
Pankaj Pachauri pontificated over how India’s Finance Minister being so “ill informed” would have reflected on the G7 summit itself. For the uninitiated, Pachauri was Dr Manmohan Singh’s “communications adviser,” if that makes any sense.
https://twitter.com/PankajPachauri/status/1404317054686011392?s=20
Why journalists of a certain leaning got so worked up by one inadvertent tweet of Nirmala Sitharaman, despite the Finance Minister issuing a clarification much before her tweet catching the eye of these “fact checkers” is not known. Perhaps, it was to provide ammunition to Congress leaders and liberals who have been blinded by their hatred for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.
