New Delhi, July 12 : India on Wednesday refused entry to British MP Lord Carlile, a member of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's legal team, on charges of having an invalid visa.

"Lord Alexander Carlile, a British national, arrived in New Delhi on July 11, 2018 without having obtained the appropriate Indian visa," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to queries.

"His intended activity in India was incompatible with the purpose of his visit as mentioned in his visa application," Kumar said. "It was therefore decided to deny him entry into India upon arrival."

Lord Carlile was scheduled to address the media in New Delhi on Thursday. According to the Dhaka Tribune, he wanted to "explain the complexities of Khaleda Zia's case to the international media community".

 

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Mumbai: In a shameful turn of events, a TV news anchor at India Today mistakenly read out a tweet from a parody account of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on live television. This mishap occurred as global leaders, including PM Modi, extended their congratulations to Republican candidate Donald Trump for his historic win in the US Presidential Elections.

In the excitement to report PM Modi’s message to Trump, the anchor read a tweet from a parody X (formerly Twitter) account, thinking it was an official statement. The post claimed that Modi planned a call with Trump to discuss various issues, including violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, Khalistani terrorism allegedly enabled by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the war in Ukraine.

The video clip quickly went viral online, leaving netizens amused. The parody account had a similar profile picture to PM Modi’s verified account but included the word "Parody" in brackets. While reading the post, the anchor mistakenly described it as a strong statement by Modi, referencing recent attacks against Hindus and temples by Khalistani extremists.

Realising the error, the anchor immediately corrected himself, saying, "I'm sorry, I've got it wrong," and went on to read the genuine congratulatory message from Modi's official account, which has over 103 million followers.

The incident sparked mixed reactions online. Some users sympathised with the anchor, noting that the parody account could easily deceive anyone at first glance. However, others emphasised the need for proper verification before broadcasting to a large audience.

The situation also drew comments from Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, who criticised the news channel, referring to a recent tweet from one of its journalists about alleged biases in American election coverage. "Parody account tweet makes it to headlines of newstainment channel report. Just a few hours ago, was reading tweets giving lessons to American news channels about bias, fake narrative, and election coverage," she tweeted.

In a humorous twist, a parody account of Donald Trump also responded to the Modi parody account, keeping the spirit of satire alive on the platform.