Ivanka Trump is being called tone-deaf for her May 22 tweet about an Indian girl, who recently made headlines for cycling for more than 1,200 kilometres to rescue her father. Fifteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari cycled carrying her injured father, Mohan Paswan, riding pillion from Delhi to Darbhanga, Bihar.
Impressed by her, Cycling Federation of India Chairman Onkar Singh invited her for a trial, Indian media reports stated. He told Press Trust of India (PTI) that if Kumari, an eighth grade student, passed the trial, she will be selected as a trainee at the National Cycling Academy.
Taking to Twitter Ivanka, US President Donald Trump’s daughter shared a picture of Kumari cycling with her injured father, calling the tragic incident a “beautiful feat of love”.
She, @IvankaTrump, tweeted: “15 year old Jyoti Kumari, carried her wounded father to their home village on the back of her bicycle covering +1,200 km over 7 days. This beautiful feat of endurance and love has captured the imagination of the Indian people and the cycling federation!”
Ivanka criticised
Soon after, Indian tweeps flooded the reply section with their reactions, criticising her for romanticising the family’s misfortune.
Twitter user @saahilmenghani shared a “fixed” version of her tweet and referenced her father’s campaign slogan: “Fixed it. 15 year old Jyoti Kumari, carried her wounded father to their home on the back of her bicycle covering +1,200 km over 7 days. This ugly Defeat due to poverty and government's failure has had every true Indian's head hang in shame. No wonder, you have failed to MAGA! [Make America Great Again].”
Tweep @rupasubramanya wrote: “Are you seriously this clueless? This kid and her family had to go through this horrific experience because of India's ill-conceived total lockdown which has resulted in a humanitarian disaster, not because she's aspiring to be a professional cyclist.”
Many believed that Ivanka failed to highlight the shortcomings of the Indian government regarding the treatment of migrant workers during the coronavirus lockdown.
Twitter user @iKaustubhMishra wrote: “What's beautiful in that Ivanka? Don't you see her helplessness. This is the complete failure of Modi government.”
