New Delhi: Prime Minister Modi has become a subject of ridicule on account of another implausible claim – that he used email in 1987-88 to send a colour photograph of his mentor Lal Krishna Advani, which he had clicked with a digital camera.
He was soon caught in a flurry of jokes with the social media telling him that there was no email at that time. Internet made its debut in India only around 1995, it was pointed out. Moreover, he had to be a very rich person to be able to afford a digital camera, which was introduced by Nikon only in 1987, costing Rs 4 lakh. “Email was not available until 1995.But Modi somehow used it in 1988 before it was officially introduced to the rest of us,” tweeted economist Rupa Subramanya.
At the heart of the black humour was an interview wherein PM Modi had said: “Around 1987-88 I used digital camera for the first time. Very few had email at the time. There was an Advani rally. At that time the digital camera used to be this big (motions with his hands).
I had a digital camera. I took a photo of Advani and transmitted it to Delhi. A colour photo was printed (in a newspaper). Advani ji was surprised and said how did my colour photo appear the very next day? “The revelation elicited a spate of questions. Whether PM Modi had an email or not apart, which newspapers had an email address? Nor did they have colour printing at that time to publish a colour photo, many pointed out on Twitter.
Journalists a fact-check: At that time, some dozen or so enthusiasts used to run the Bulletin Board Service in India to provide an email service for exchanging notes in India and abroad but they were not able to take the load of digital pictures as the net speed was then only 1200 and 2400 BPS (bits per second). Reactions flew thick and fast.
Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister, Congress’ social media and digital communications head Divya Spandana tweeted, “Any guesses as to what Narendra Modi’s email id was in1988? dud@lol.com is my guess.” To this, Divya gleefully added: “The question is even if he did have an email id in 1988 when the rest of the world didn’t, to whom was he sending emails? ET?” Soon it was free for all.
‘‘We really miss you Sir from 23rd May,’’ signed off one Twitter user. AIMIM boss Asaduddin Owaisi said a PM who’ll literally say anything “cannot possibly be trusted with our national security.” Political commentator Salman Soz told a news portal the gaffe was an “embarrassment for India.”
