Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party is famous for being digitally savvy when it comes to campaigning. But on Tuesday, the Delhi chief minister might have gone a bit too far by appearing in front of cameras with what looked like a real-life Snapchat filter. Kejriwal was pictured at an event in Goa saying AAP is sure of winning 35 out of 40 seats, but he also did so while wearing flowers in his hair – a fashion choice that was not going to unremarked on by twitter.
And setting new fashion trends https://t.co/nbwArMwPAe
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) June 28, 2016
can't wait till he meets florists https://t.co/3656Fmqvwj
— Gayatri Jayaraman (@Gayatri__J) June 28, 2016
Kabhi toh nahao yaar... https://t.co/38aVEUL4ej
— Granit Chacko (@sidin) June 28, 2016
Visiting parts of the country and putting unusual things on your head is part and parcel of being an Indian politician. You will find many, many pictures of everyone from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi wearing all manner of headgear at a rally somewhere in India, since every community has their own special hat.
Why should Goa be any different? The state has elections next year, and the Aam Aadmi Party thinks it has a real chance to expand into what was previously Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party terrain.
Every year, during the feast of São João, the feast of St John, Goans put on crowns of wildflowers called kopels, drink feni and jump into wells to celebrate the arrival of the monsoon. It's a time-honoured tradition and it seems like Kejriwal was more than willing to take part, even it meant pictures of him with flowers in his hair. Which is exactly what we got.
Some even celebrated the fact that Kejriwal was making São João mainstream.
All ready for Sao Jao he looks. Hope he got a good drink & some dancing. Sussegaad happening https://t.co/sGuRmoIyQl
— SANJAY HEGDE (@sanjayuvacha) June 28, 2016
Looks like Kejriwal just made the Sao Joao kopel mainstream. Viva Sao Joao! #Goa pic.twitter.com/HOROIeMz0k
— Nigel Britto (@NigelBritto) June 28, 2016
Others, however chose to focus on slightly less obvious takeaways.
. @AamAadmiParty in #Goa! Chuck those Nehru caps already. pic.twitter.com/hg5L1pr1K5
— Aaron Pereira (@aaronpereira) June 28, 2016
NDTV came prepared to protect their microphone in case someone waters those plants mid-interview pic.twitter.com/IoxMVsHuzV
— St_Hill (@St_Hill) June 28, 2016
Fighting corruption with carnation (and gerbera). Thank you @ANI_news. pic.twitter.com/dNUztjU2pq
— Deepanjana Pal (@dpanjana) June 28, 2016
And of course, there were plenty of jokesters – many of whom made the same Snapchat joke.
(For those unsure of why that's funny, Snapchat is a very popular messaging app among young people, that allows you to add 'filters' to pictures of yourself. One popular filter happens to put flowers in your hair. You could also watch Indian news channels hilariously try to explain Snapchat to viewers.
If you don't know what an app is, well, you might have to go elsewhere, to have that answered).
Not a Snapchat filter. pic.twitter.com/BA35rq0Hj6
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) June 28, 2016
Mujhe bhi phool wala filter chahiye ~ Rumi
— Che (@ExKeys) June 28, 2016
PSA: @ArvindKejriwal HAS JOINED SNAPCHAT. I REPEAT, ARVIND KEJRIWAL HAS JOINED SNAPCHAT! pic.twitter.com/P5LjvSiL14
— Pathikrit Sanyal (@BucketheadCase) June 28, 2016
A few took their humour skills even further.
That awkward moment when you've run out of deodorant but need to address a press conference. https://t.co/EeM8QPZ9Lg
— अंशुल (@Ghair_Kanooni) June 28, 2016
Hare Krishna Hare Ram!https://t.co/V3XFuklESm pic.twitter.com/pp1CBKxzeR
— Ankur Bhardwaj (@Bhayankur) June 28, 2016
Famous British Weather forecaster John Dalton indicating seasons in India during Winter, Summer and Monsoon.(1788) pic.twitter.com/Um48GeJV0M
— History of India (@RealHistoryPic) June 28, 2016
When you have dharna at 6, but you gotta attend Coachella at 8 pic.twitter.com/qTMHRzgEpK
— Anuradha (@anuradha_kush) June 28, 2016