Even by the most generous assessment the event that Vice President Hamid Ansari had to attend in Thiruvananthapuram during his trip to Kerala was an absolute failure. From the compere mocking his birth date to the chorus messing up the national anthem, the function managed to hit all the wrong notes. Well known television personality GS Pradeep who anchors the Malayalam version of ‘Bigg Boss’, was the compere of the function on Wednesday and according to a Hindustan Times report was roped in at the last minute.
Unfortunately for the VIPs on stage and the organisers, Pradeep reportedly decided that the joke of the night was that the Vice President was born on 1 April and during the function mentioned multiple times that despite being born on the day that marks All Fools’ Day, Ansari was an intellectual. “We were wondering why he brought up the VP’s birthday to impress people,” a participant in the function was quoted as saying in the report.
Tharoor and Ansari at the function that reportedly upset the VP. Image courtesy: Shashi Tharoor’s Twitter feed. And just when it seemed things couldn’t get worse, the organisers managed to make a hash of national anthem, according to a Gulf News report. Apparently the organisers weren’t aware about the need for the national anthem to be sung at the end of the function as part of the protocol since the Vice President was present.
While the Gulf News report blames only one member of the organising committee for singing a version of the national anthem that was replete with errors, Hindustan Times reported that an entire group of people was assembled at the last minute to sing the anthem but had to be stopped short after “they didn’t remember the full lyrics”.
In his defence, Pradeep has said he wasn’t used to being a compere on stage and said criticism of his long winded introduction of speakers was unwarranted since he wasn’t informed of any time limit. While Union Minister of State Shashi Tharoor received an award at the function and even tweeted images from the function, an unamused Vice President’s office has reportedly sought an explanation from the organisers of the event.
Unfortunately for the VIPs on stage and the organisers, Pradeep reportedly decided that the joke of the night was that the Vice President was born on 1 April and during the function mentioned multiple times that despite being born on the day that marks All Fools’ Day, Ansari was an intellectual. “We were wondering why he brought up the VP’s birthday to impress people,” a participant in the function was quoted as saying in the report.
Tharoor and Ansari at the function that reportedly upset the VP. Image courtesy: Shashi Tharoor’s Twitter feed. And just when it seemed things couldn’t get worse, the organisers managed to make a hash of national anthem, according to a Gulf News report. Apparently the organisers weren’t aware about the need for the national anthem to be sung at the end of the function as part of the protocol since the Vice President was present.
While the Gulf News report blames only one member of the organising committee for singing a version of the national anthem that was replete with errors, Hindustan Times reported that an entire group of people was assembled at the last minute to sing the anthem but had to be stopped short after “they didn’t remember the full lyrics”.
In his defence, Pradeep has said he wasn’t used to being a compere on stage and said criticism of his long winded introduction of speakers was unwarranted since he wasn’t informed of any time limit. While Union Minister of State Shashi Tharoor received an award at the function and even tweeted images from the function, an unamused Vice President’s office has reportedly sought an explanation from the organisers of the event.
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