ISLAMABAD: India and Ukraine have come to head-on with severe verbal attacks on each other after Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense published a derogatory post on its Twitter page insulting the Hindu goddess “Kali Maata”.
Following the post, people from the Hindu religion and from others thronged to social media and other platforms to criticize the act by the Ukraine Ministry of Defense.
Kanchan Gupta, a senior adviser to the Indian Ministry of Information, said, “This is an attack on the feelings of Hindus around the world… Ukraine is now mocking the goddess Kali in a way that no foreign government has ever done.”
A netizen wrote that a few days ago, Ukraine’s Deputy FM had come on a visit to India and had demanded to invite Ukraine’s President to the G-20 summit being held in India. But India had refused to invite the Ukrainian President to the G-20. People feared that it might be a reaction to the refusal by India.
The biggest reason Ukraine has a bad name in India is Ukrainian arrogance (and racism) itself, said another netizen.
A Western citizen said, “Ukraine’s recent Hinduphobic tweet shows their misplaced priorities. While India is neutral on its stance towards the conflict, Ukraine should focus on its own citizens instead of indulging in cheap anti-India politics.”
The tweet was removed from the page after heavy backlash from netizens from India.
First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzheppar later said on Twitter, “We regret the defense ministry depicting Hindu goddess Kali in a distorted manner. Ukraine & its people respect the unique Indian culture & highly appreciate and support it. The depiction has already been removed. Ukraine is determined to further increase cooperation in a spirit of mutual respect& strong friendship.”
