Jharkhand Education Minister thinks APJ Abdul Kalam is dead!

Jharkhand's education minister, Neera  Yadav's went viral on the internet after she was photographed putting a tilak on a garlanded picture of India's former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who, the last time we checked, is alive and kicking! Incidentally, this isn't the first time the BJP is embroiled in a garland controversy.

In the run-up to the Delhi Assembly Elections, the BJP had come out with an ad targeting Kejriwal which also had a cartoonish picture of Anna Hazare wearing a garland. 

In India putting a garland on someone's picture is a way of paying respect after someone has passed away. The photo was taken at a school function in Hazaribagh district where Yadav was the chief guest to inaugurate a 'smart class' at Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir. 

To add to the irony, Kalam had been in the same place in May this year when he addressed a gathering at one of the state's biggest agricultural universities.

According to a report in Dainik Bhaskar,  Yadav said, "I only put a tilak on the picture and garlands were already placed on the pictures of other great leaders too."  

Yadav was accompanied with the local BJP MLA Manish Jayaswal, the principal of the school, teachers and several other people, but none of them pointed out the gaffe. We guess no one was willing to tell the emperor that he wasn't wearing clothes. The good people on Twitter were quite understanding as we can see from their reactions: 

A education minister NEERA YADAV of jharkhand from #bjp pays tribute to fromer president #APJABDULKALAM... http://t.co/DZxmMT1Plj

— kiranNSUI (@kirannsui) July 22, 2015

“Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow”- APJ Abdul Kalam Smriti Irani and Neera Yadav??

— Prakash Kalakoti (@KalakotiP) July 22, 2015

On Monday, Jharkhand's education minister Neera Yadav garlanded a pic of Dr. APJ Kalam. She was ironically inaugurating a smart class.

— Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) July 22, 2015