In what is one of the biggest international gaffes ever, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has wished Afghan President Ashraf Ghani a very happy birthday. All is indeed well, as the Indian Prime Minister is very active on social media platforms such as Twitter. However, there was a slight problem, as the Afghan President's birthday is more than three months away, according to BBC News.
Happy birthday @ashrafghani. Praying for your long life & exceptional health and a joyful journey ahead.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 12, 2016
While the greetings were quite off the mark, the Afghan President handled the gaffe in a really gentlemanly manner, responding to the post and candidly pointing out that his birthday was actually on May 19, reported ZNews India.
@narendramodi Greetings from Munich Mr. PM. Although, my Birthday is on 19th May, but I'd still like to thank you for your gracious words :) — Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) February 12, 2016
One of the probable reasons for the Indian Prime Minister's mistake was the fact that the Afghan's President's Google profile lists his birthdate as Feb. 12 instead of May 19. Thus, Modi, or his social media manager, Hiren Joshi, probably based the erroneous greeting from a Google notification, reported APB Live News.
Of course, with a mistake involving politicians as powerful as the Indian PM and the Afghan President, Twitter users had a field day, with one humorously stating that the mistake was arguably "the biggest international joke from someone occupying the biggest chair in the world's biggest democracy."
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