‘Teleprompter glitch’ during WEF summit exposes Modi’s oratory skills

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was caught off guard on Monday after he abruptly paused while addressing the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) virtual summit owing to a ‘teleprompter glitch’ that left him red-faced.

Following the incident, Modi’s critics claimed that that he ran out of words as his teleprompter stopped working. Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi quipped that the Indian premier could not address international summits without the help of teleprompter.

However, Modi’s supporters maintained that technical glitch caused the interruption that lasted for almost two minutes, according to The Print.

In the video which went viral on social media, Modi could be seen pausing before looking to his left. He then plugged in his earphones before checking with WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab if he was audible. After Schwab responded in the affirmative, the PM restarted his address.

With the hashtag ‘#TeleprompterPM’, the official Twitter handle of the Congress party attributed the glitch to a teleprompter issue.

Referring to a Bollywood song, it said: “Teleprompter guy: Achha chalta hun, duaon mein yaad rakhna (Alright I’m leaving, keep me in your prayers)”.

Congress leader Gandhi in a tweet took a jibe at the premier, saying “teleprompter could not bear so many lies”.