• Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Africa

Modi picks up India Tricolour lying on BRICS stage ahead of group photo; WATCH

Ramaphosa, who was leading Modi onto the stage, also did the same seeing the Indian PM.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi picks an Indian Tricolour lying on the BRICS stage as South African president Cyril Ramaphosa looks on. (Picture: X Screengrab/@ANI)

By: Shubham Ghosh

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi was on Wednesday (23) applauded on social media after he carefully picked an Indian Tricolour found lying on the stage ahead of a group photograph on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In a video which was shared widely on social media, the Indian leader was seen stepping on the stage with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa when he noticed the flag on the ground as a marker to denote positions where the leaders of the five-nation grouping would stand for the photographs. He picked it up himself to ensure that no one stepped on it and put it in his pocket.

Ramaphosa, who was leading Modi onto the stage, was less watchful and after seeing Modi picking up his country’s flag, he also did the same. An official came up to take the flags but while the South African president gave him his, Modi was seen patting his coat’s pocket and saying something to the host leader with a smile.

Later, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov joined the duo. Russian president Vladimir Putin skipped the summit amid an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Netizens were impressed with Modi’s gesture. Here are some reactions that came up on X, formerly Twitter:

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