Justin Trudeau's India tour branded a ‘slow-moving train wreck’ as family is mocked for ‘Bollywood' attire
He is one of the world’s most popular leaders who is regularly known to “break the internet” with his animal-cuddling and fancy dress antics.
But Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tour of India has been branded a “slow-moving train wreck” by one commentator – with many Indians unhappy about the number of colourful photo opportunities.
The week-long visit aimed at enhancing business ties has seen Mr Trudeau and his family frequently appearing before the cameras wearing traditional Indian dress and meeting the press with the “Namaste” greeting.
Today, he tried his hand at cricket, taking to the pitch with his children and former Indian captains Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin in New Delhi.
Indian media have been critical of the visit – which started badly with suggestions of a political “snub” when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who often greets his counterparts on their arrival, sent a junior minister from the agriculture department to meet him at the airport.
Vivek Dehejia, a resident senior fellow at the IDFC Institute, an India-based think tank, told US and Canadian broadcaster CNBC: “[The trip] is best described as a slow-moving train wreck ...
"Very little substance has come out of it and very little actually will emerge from this visit apart from some nice photo ops.”
somehow there's always at least one foreigner at Indian weddings taking pictures with all the guests pic.twitter.com/RHN3OI1N2x
— José Covaco (@HoeZaay) February 21, 2018
Notice how the Indians are wearing suits and you can't help but dress up like a Bollywood extra.
— Interest Only (@Interest0nly) February 21, 2018
Why couldn’t @JustinTrudeau just use Photoshop? That way he could have had photos of all the INDIAN outfits and temples and ashrams and monuments and Bollywood without having to travel so many thousands of miles? It’s the costliest election photo-shoot.
— SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) February 21, 2018
Omar Abdullah, the former Chief Minister in the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, wrote on Twitter with a montage of the images: “Is it just me or is this choreographed cuteness all just a bit much now? Also FYI we Indians don’t dress like this every day sir, not even in Bollywood.”