Gaffes go hand in hand with external affairs minister S.M.Krishna .Answering Brinnda Karat's question in Rajya Sabha, about Pakistani virologist Dr.Mohammad Khalil Chishty who is in Ajmer jail,Krishna said "the government of Pakistan must consider his (Chishty’s) release on humanitarian grounds." Obviously Krishna was confused with Indian spy Sarabjit Singh, who is in a Pakistan jail on death row.Prime Minister noticed the faux paus by SMK,quickly intervened and clarified.Is age catching up with SMK or is it negligence?But gaffes are nothing new to SMK.Not long ago at UN he spoke for 3 minutes,the text prepared for the Portuguese delegate.The funniest part was he did not realise when he read about those lines mentioning about the 'the happy coincidence of two portugese speaking countries" .Fortunatley the Indian envoy for UN realised the mistake and interrupted SMK and gave him the correct text and asked him to 'start again'. It was his first speech at UN.It is very clear that he did not even bother to go through the text once, before delivering the speech prepared by his speech writer. This is evident from the fact that he thought his speech writers were mentioning about Brazil .He also said so many papers were spread before him .By mistake he took the wrong paper and there is nothing wrong in it.Before SMK made his speech the portugese delegate had delivered his speech in portugese.The English translation of the speech was with SMK .By mistake he started speaking that text.During his recent joint press conference with Hillary clinton,Krishna was asked by an American journalist ‘Mr. Minister, what assurances did you receive from Secretary Clinton about President Obama’s plan for Afghanistan? Are you persuaded that Washington will not allow a deal that will leave the Taliban in power? And more broadly, do you feel that President Obama’s plan can work? Or do you think that we should also be working on a plan B?’Krishna responded by saying: ‘India has been closely following the happenings in Afghanistan, though we are not immediate neighbours.’India is surely a neighbour of Afhghanistan.But Krishna's reply stunned the foreign journalist.It was a pathetic sight to see an Indian foreign minister committing such gaffe's in the presence of a visiting foreign diginatory.
Many celebritites also have committed such faux paus earlier.The CWG fame Suresh Kalmadi addressed former President Abdul Kalam as Abdul Kalam Azad, in the recently concluded CWG Games ceremony.Abdul Kalam Azad was a freedom fighter.Later addressing the media in a press conference,Kalmadi said "prince Diana" attended the opening ceremony.What he meant was "PrinceCharles".Princess Diana died in an accident in 1997.I am reminded about a similar incident during my working days .In one of the internal Quality circle presentation meetings,a speaker addressed the person in chair as "Julius Ceaser ",whereas the person's name was Julius Sathyaseelan.President Obama is also known for such glaring gaffe's.President Obama began his speech reading the opening lines of Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen's speech in 2009.This goof up was due to a mix up of their speeches at the teleprompter.President Obama,once addressing soldiers said "I had the great honour of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honour".But this person was killed in 2006 and was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.Obama on a state visit to UK signed a guest book with a wrong year,as 2008.The monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh flew into the American capital for a two-day stay .President Bush was about to say the monarch's had toured the states in 1776.President Bush also winked at the queen by mistake.It was reported the queen gave him a regal glare.Realising his blunder Bush immediately said jokingly that she "gave me a look that only a mother could give a child." President Ronald Reagen was once checking his microphone before going on air.“My fellow Americans,I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”Reagen was not aware the video tape was running .Once Vajpayee wanted Railway minister Lalu to resign on Sabarmati Express mishap in parliament.Striking a moral highground posture,vajpayee said “Maine sansad ki garima aur maryada ka kabhie paalan nahin kiya.”The house broke inlto laughter.ABV realised his faux paus.Vajpayee immediatley said "It was a human error " ,taking a dig at Lalu,for attributing the train accident to "a human error".Praveen Rashtrapal,an AICC member from Gujarat once addressed Sonia Gandhi as Indira Gandhi in a meeting .Buckingham palace once gave a reception to British Indians.The number of invitees were close to 400.Guests lined up to meet the queen and the Duke.Looking at the name badge of businessman Atul Patel,the Duke said 'There is a lot of your family here in tonight'.The Gujarati businessman took it as a joke and said he was not offended.Unlike olden days, with the widespread usage of cell phones,video camera's and internet, the gaffe's by celebrities are flashed instantly around the world,these days.It provides entertainment to us .
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