Congress MP claims Messi was born in Assam, then deletes tweet
The AFA in Messi's jersey stands for Assam Football Association! (photo-DailyO)
India has no dearth of Messi fans, and Argentina's win at the Qatar final made for quite a celebration. But for Assam Congress MP Abdul Khaleque, a son of the soil picked up the World Cup!
In a now-deleted Tweet, the Congress MP from Barpeta constituency tagged @TeamMessi and wrote, “Congratulations from the core of my heart. We are proud of you for your Assam Connection.”
When asked about this Assam connection, Khaleque replied, “Yes, he was born in Assam.”
It’s unclear if Khaleque actually meant what he said or was just joking (we're guessing it's the former, given what followed) around but the two-time MLA clearly realised his folly, deleting the tweets in a while.
More comments on his now-deleted tweet ranged from memes to even side-by-side comparisons between Messi and Sachin Tendulkar, claiming that the Argentine player also has a “Maharashtra connection” given both Tendulkar and Messi wear the number 10 on their jerseys!
Well, guess someone pointed out to the MP that Messi was not born in Assam, after all.
FYI: Lionel Messi was born in Rosario, in central Argentina... which is 17,000 kilometres away from Assam!