Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of US President Donald Trump while predicting results of the 2020 presidential elections, shared a distorted map of India, showing Kashmir to be a part of Pakistan.
Predicting a “red wave”, Donald Trump Jr posted a world map with majority of countries filled in with red, the Republican Party’s colour, to indicate that his father will emerge victorious in the election.
The map, predicting election results posted by Trump Jr on his Twitter handle, shows a predominantly red world map with the exception of India and some other nations, which he has shown in blue, meaning they will vote for the Democrat Joe Biden. The map showed India in blue while Jammu and Kashmir was shown in red and voting for Donald Trump.
Trump Jr tweeted, “Okay, finally got around to making my electoral map prediction. #2020Election #VOTE”.
In the map tweeted by Trump Jr, China has been painted in blue — the colour of his rival party — as the US President has continuously criticised Beijing for the outbreak of COVID-19 and souring trade ties.
In India, the conflict-hit northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir along with Ladakh — the two union territories carved out of the erstwhile state are shown in red.
Also read:With Kamala Harris by his side, Joseph Biden looks to enter the White House
Omar Abdullah, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir reacted to the tweet. “So much for the friendship with Trump Senior. Junior has placed India firmly with @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris 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.
Abdullah’s tweet hinted at India-US ties and the camaraderie often displayed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump.
During the recent 2+2 ministerial dialogue between India and US that has defence and foreign ministers from both sides, US lashed out at China’s aggressive posturing against at the Line of Actual Control referring to the standoff in Ladakh. US secretary of state Michael Pompeo said in an address to the media, “Chinese Communist Party is no friend to democracy. The United States will stand with the people of India as they face threats to their sovereignty and liberty”.
Also read:India absolutely needs US to be its ally, says Pompeo
Shashi Tharoor, Congress party leader and MP, also a former undersecretary-general of United Nations reacted to the tweet, taking a jibe at the Prime Minister.
“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!”
Tharoor was referring to Trump’s statement where he described India’s air as “filthy”.
Meanwhile, former Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, found the map “encouraging”. He tweeted: “Good. Jammu and Kashmir is shown as part of Pakistan. Very encouraging.”