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| Modi signed National Flag given to Vikas Khanna by a girl from Smile Foundation (video below) |
Staff correspondent, September 25, 2015, NewsCrunch
A harmless remark made by Celebrity Chef Vikas Khanna during TV interviews landed PM Modi in a new national flag controversy.
Vikas Khanna had been invited to oversee the dinner hosted by Modi to 40 US CEOs on Thursday.
Speaking to the TV channels on Thursday evening, Vikas Khanna was more than willing to share details of his arrangements.
He said he had cooked festival food of
Modi reportedly told Vikas Khanna that he made him proud, a news the chef could not wait to share with his mother. He described Modi’s praise as a big deal.
Then someone pointed out at a book and the Tri-colour he was holding, and that got him to talk about his book Utsav, a collection of Indian festival recipes as improvised by him.
Vikas Khanna said he was planning to give the book to President Obama in a week’s time and said he had two choices before him.
He could have placed the book in a golden box and presented it to Obama or gifted it along with an Indian flag he had received from a girl with Smile Foundation. The flag had been made of pure khadi, he emphasised.
When Vikas Khanna requested Modi to sign it, the PM seems to have gladly obliged.
But after the controversy broke out Vikas Khanna tweeted denying that Modi had signed the Tri-Colour. He said the fabric had a "Make in India insignia with Ashoka Chakra gears hand painted by Smile Foundation children."
It was Make in India insignia with Ashoka Chakra gears hand painted by Smile Foundation children. Not the national flag.
— Vikas Khanna (@TheVikasKhanna) September 25, 2015