As Election Day got underway in the United States to elect its next president, Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, tweeted a peculiar map on Tuesday, 3 November, that raised more than a few eyebrows.
"Okay, finally got around to making my electoral map prediction. #2020Election #VOTE," he tweeted, along with a picture of the world map that was predominantly red – the colour of the Republican Party.
Only a few places, including India, Sri Lanka, China, and Mexico, were shown in blue.
And for India, the northeastern states, along with the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh were, for some reason, shown in red, while the rest of the country bore the colour of the Democratic Party.
‘The Price of Namo’s Bromance’
Many, including Indian political leaders, were quick to take digs at Trump Jr's tweet.
"So much for the friendship with Trump Senior. Junior has placed India firmly with Joe Biden & Kamala Harris though interestingly Jr. believes J&K & the NorthEast go against the rest of India & will vote Trump. Someone needs to take his colouring pencils away," National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's equation with Trump senior, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said, "The price of Namo’s bromance: Kashmir & the NorthEast cut off from the rest of India, & the whole “filthy" place relegated by Don Jr to the realm of hostiles, along with China & Mexico. So much for the crores spent on obsequious serenading stadium events!”
The presidential election in the US this time around is fraught with uncertainties, coming as it does, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Concerns have been raised over whether Trump will relinquish office or not (if he were to lose), and there's also a big question over when the results will actually be known.
Meanwhile, as voting got underway on Tuesday, Trump said that he will declare victory "only when there's victory". In a phone interview with Fox News, the US president said that there's a "very solid chance" of his winning.
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