A photo posted on Tuesday evening by Louisiana political blogger Lamar White Jr. created controversy online because it showed the state governor looking a lot whiter.



Widely speculated to be a possible Republican candidate for the Presidential elections in 2016,  the Louisiana governor was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as Piyush Jindal. His parents had come to the United States from Punjab just six months before he was born. The difference in the colour tone was therefore bound to be noticed, particularly because it was so glaring.



Given the obvious change in the colour of Jindal’s skin, the back and forth on Twitter was intense till Jindal’s chief of staff, Kyle Plotkin, stepped in to tweet the actual ”official portrait”, accusing White of ”race-baiting.



It turned out that the controversial photo that White tweeted was actually taken in 2011.



But, by then, #JindalPortrait started to trend in the US.



 






Given the India connection, and the hot race button it pressed, Indian Twitter users too saw it as a perfect opportunity for ”Fair and Lovely” jokes.