Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Kiran Bedi’s congratulatory tweet to “Puducherrians" after the FIFA World Cup final on 15 July has sparked a controversy. After France won the coveted FIFA World Cup by defeating Croatia in a nail-biting game, Bedi lauded the win with a reference to Puducherry’s colonial past.
“We the Puducherrians (erstwhile French Territory) won the World Cup. Congratulations Friends. What a mixed team-all French. Sports unites (sic),” wrote Bedi in her tweet.
The reference to Puducherry as an erstwhile French colony did not go down well with several people, as a quick look through the comments’ section under her tweet showed.
Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken called Bedi’s statement “unacceptable and anti-national” and advised PM Narendra Modi to find a replacement for her.
“This statement of Kiran Bedi is unacceptable and is definitely anti-national. Narendra Modi ji should recall Kiran Bedi immediately – May consider Dr Harsh Vardhan, Manoj Tiwari or Vijay Goel as a replacement,” Maken tweeted.
Here are some of the responses her post garnered on Twitter.
A handful of Twitter users rushed to defend the BJP leader.
However, Bedi seemed unfazed by the attention her tweet had garnered. In a tweet on the morning after the World Cup final, she wrote:
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