Twitterati on a roll over poll results: From 'Pappu pass ho gaya' to 'BJP gets triple-talaq'
New Delhi, Dec 12: Election results may be good or bad for those politically-inclined depending on their party affiliation, but Twitterati across the spectrum are having a field day with catchy one-liners, jokes and memes all around, ranging from 'Pappu pass ho gaya' to the 'BJP gets triple talaq'.
A good number of jokes are also targeted at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who had campaigned extensively for the BJP during the elections. Several viral memes take a swipe at his numerous 'name-changing' ideas and one of those shows the firebrand leader telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he would change the meaning of 'defeat' to 'victory'.
Another meme showed Adityanath, who had talked about changing the names of cities like Hyderabad during his election campaign, suggesting changing the name of Congress party itself to the 'BJP'.
But, a tweet said it was time for Adityanath himself to again become 'Ajay Singh Bisht', his earlier name.
Divya Spandana of the Congress party's social media team retweeted an old tweet of Modi from December 2003, wherein the then Gujarat chief minister had said that the results of five states showed the way the wind was blowing and it was beginning of 'Congress-Mukt Bharat', but she replaced the word 'Congress' with the 'BJP'.
Celebrity author Shobhaa De tweeted, "Not only has Pappu passed, he has earned an instant PhD. Let's hope he stays the course and doesn't get distracted. India needs him to see the 2019 elections through."
Actress Swara Bhasker tweeted, "Looks like BJP got 'Pappu'd three times over". Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is often referred to as 'Pappu' on social media by right-wing trolls, while some BJP leaders have also called him by this name.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said, "No wonder the BJP is so upset today. The voters just gave them a triple talaq", referring to the Congress emerging victorious in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
He also referred to Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Kamal Nath's statement that he was ensuring personal delivery of the party's stake-claim letter to the state's Governor, saying it was good that the party was not relying on the "Governor's fax machine in MP", taking a swipe at a recent fax machine controversy in Jammu and Kashmir.
Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah also tweeted that the Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh were "smart people" as they were not faxing their letter to Raj Bhawan in Bhopal.
One of the viral memes blamed Yogi for the BJP losses and said it was his "caste certificate" to Lord Hanuman which hurt the party and the results are like a revenge by the monkey-god on Tuesday, a day when Hanuman is worshipped.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted in Hindi, "Abki baar, kho di sarkar" (This time, lost the government), punning it on the popular BJP slogan of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 'Abki baar, Modi sarkar'.
Not only has Pappu passed, he has earned an instant PhD. Let's hope he stays the course and doesn't get distracted. India needs him to see the 2019 Elections through.
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) December 11, 2018
Fixed it for you @narendramodi ji #CongressWinsBIG pic.twitter.com/OFnYHRvq7t
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) December 11, 2018
No wonder the BJP is so upset today. The voters just gave them a triple talaaq.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 11, 2018
अबकी बार, खो दी सरकार
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) December 11, 2018
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rupee falls 9 paise to record low of 90.87 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee plunged 9 paise to a record low of 90.87 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, weighed down by sustained FII outflows and no breakthrough in the India-US trade deal.
However, a weaker greenback and a decline in global crude oil prices capped further losses in the domestic unit, according to forex traders.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at its all-time low of 90.87 against the US dollar, down 9 paise from its previous close, and traded in a narrow range of 90.77- 90.87 in early trade.
ALSO READ: Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
The rupee on Monday settled at a new all-time low of 90.78 against the US dollar, registering a loss of 29 paise over its previous close, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
"The US-India trade deal still seems to be off by a distance with the Commerce Secretary saying the first phase will be signed before the end of the year and news that we are closest to the deal being signed. The uncertainty has clouded the recovery on the USD/INR pair as the rupee opened lower with dollar buying happening every day," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
Even a reduction in trade deficit on Monday could not bring about a recovery in the rupee with Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) outflows continuing, he added
According to the latest government data released on Monday, India's trade deficit narrowed to a five-month low of USD 24.53 billion in November, as exports rebounded by 19.37 per cent to a six-month high of USD 38.13 billion after contracting in October, driven by higher shipments of engineering and electronics goods.
At the same time, the country's imports dipped by 1.88 per cent to USD 62.66 billion due to a fall in the inbound shipments of gold, crude oil, coal, and coke.
FIIs sold equities worth Rs 1,468.32 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
Also, wholesale price inflation stayed in the negative for the second consecutive month in November at (-) 0.32 per cent, even though there was an uptick in prices of food articles like pulses and vegetables on a month-on-month basis, government data showed on Monday.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at (-) 1.21 per cent in October and 2.16 per cent in November last year.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.03 per cent lower at 98.27.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.61 per cent lower at USD 60.19 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index, Sensex, declined 363.92 points to 84,849.44 in early trade while the Nifty was down 106.65 points to 25,920.65.
