We asked some politicians to quote their most LOL moment the year. Here are some responses.
Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, Member of Parliament, BJD
@PandaJay
During the Doklam standoff this year, China, in its wisdom, decided to attack India through racist state-sponsored propaganda masquerading as comedy. Once this video hit the internet, the international press condemned the blatant racism. What followed next was most amusing. China, the autocratic nation, did not anticipate a tsunami of videos combating this propaganda that would flow from a nation that actually upholds freedom of speech. When, several small comedy groups dealt a severe blow to this propaganda with their good punch-lines, China was left red-faced with an inadvertent Monty Python style self-parody.
Manish Tewari, National Spokesperson, Congress
@ManishTewari
I was in Washington on a panel with Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the Pakistani ambassador to the US. The panel was expounding on what should be the Trump administration’s approach to Af-Pak region.
The discussion got animated and Chaudhry launched into a diatribe, saying that there is no Haqqani network, there is no Quetta Shura, there is no Peshawar Shura. That these are figments of your imagination. Pakistan neither trains nor sends terrorists into India or Afghanistan. The entire audience that was already sniggering and chuckling at his rather inane protestations burst into paroxysms of laughter leaving the poor diplomat both nonplussed and embarrassed. There could not have been a more LOL moment. The Pakistanis were caught with their pants down.
Vijay Chauthaiwale, head, foreign affairs, BJP
@vijai63
The funniest irony for me was to see the BJP president Amit Shah doing ground-breaking ceremony of the district collectorate in Rahul Gandhi’s constituency, Amethi. That was the most LOL moment of Indian politics in 2017. It shows not only lack of development in Amethi, but also reflects the political wittiness of Amit Shah.
Manish Sisodia, deputy chief minister of Delhi
@msisodia
Attending GST council meetings throughout the year was a unique experience for me. But during one of the meetings in the course of discussion on an extremely important matter, the finance minister of a big state left me amused when he said: “Officers have seen everything and they know everything now. Why should we quarrel and waste time? Let us end this meeting quickly.”
Sanjay Nirupam, President, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee
@sanjaynirupam
In 2017, former Congress leader Narayan Rane walked out of the party and launched his own political outfit with much fanfare, calling it the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, stressing on the swabhiman part (self-respect).
But the funniest part of it was that he could not get his own son, Congress MLA Nitesh Rane, to join his party. If he can’t get his own son to join his “swabhiman paksha”, how can he expect the people of Maharashtra to join?
Kirit Somaiya, BJP MP from Mumbai
@KiritSomaiya
There are some things that are funny as they are laugh-worthy, but there are some that are funny because they are just sad. This is one of them. All these years, I have been good to the Shiv Sena leadership, cajoled them when seat-sharing talks between the BJP and Shiv Sena were not going smoothly, even shielded them from problems a couple of times. But the same party has now been criticising me, and last year, sent a bus full of people to physically assault me.