On the eve of Diwali, the festival light, celebrated Indian women sportspersons lent their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharat Laxmi initiative, which empowers women of the country, but ended up angering fans. (More Sports News)

And the reason: copy-pasting a tweet, which reads "I thank @narendramodi for his initiative to honour and empower women this Diwali. Acknowledgement motivates us to work harder and make India proud. #bharatkilaxmi."

As some fans suggested, they could have made the message personalised. Or, a better option would have been to retweet.

It purportedly started with a tweet from the official handle of union sports minister Kiren Rijiju. In the tweet, Rijiju wrote: "This Diwali, let's all celebrate womanhood. Societies grow when women are empowered and their accomplishments are given a place of pride! PM @narendramodi ji has appealed everyone to celebrate #BharatKiLaxmi for the extraordinary success of the women of India."

Pratik Sinha, who runs fact-checking site AltNews, then shared a tweet with screengrabs of 'the message' conveyed by the likes of boxing great Mary Kom and her rival Nikhat Zareeen, badminton queens Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, table tennis star Manika Batra and wrestler Pooja Dhanda.

Sinha also pointed out that Dhanda in fact "forgot to remove the "Text: " bit which was to be stripped off before tweeting rest of the text."

Such senior sports-persons copy-pasting stuff which they've been asked to tweet by the PMO. The person at the top forgot to remove the "Text: " bit which was to be stripped off before tweeting rest of the text. pic.twitter.com/2lDCxsMsqt — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) October 26, 2019

In reaction to the post, Indian fans expressed their shock.

Here are some reactions:

ðÂÂÂÂÂÂ¤¦ðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ¾‍âÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂï¸ÂÂÂÂÂÂ Are these sportspersons obliged to tweet like this? Each one has progressed by their own hard work and dedication — Pravin Poojary (@PravinVaani) October 26, 2019

Unbelievable level of sycophancy ðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ Sad that Sports Stars who many look upon as role models stoop so low. @joBeeGeorgeous @TamizhRatsaschi @Raja_Sw @snapnchat @RKRadhakrishn @sabr_azad God Save India — Shiva Kumar (@netmedico) October 26, 2019

I am losing respect for all these stars. It is obvious they have no clue... — V K RAMASWAMY (@vkrama01) October 26, 2019

@poojadhanda0007 @nikhat_azmi @MangteC @manikabatra_TT @NSaina @Pvsindhu1



It is really shameful that these ladies are forgetting that they national icons and not handmaids of the ruling dispensation. — Ranjit Kumar (@RanjitOne) October 26, 2019

It's easier to copy-paste than to contruct a sentence which little info available..



Although, better option would have been to ReTweet — GladiatorðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ®ðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ³ (@Gladi911) October 26, 2019

What makes you think that the "sportspersons" tweet themselves? Chances that their twitter handles have been rented out to the IT cell for ðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ°.https://t.co/ylGESKQVfe — /dev/null ðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ¡âÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂï¸ÂÂÂÂÂÂ (@agarwal_mohit) October 26, 2019

Batch processing ðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ — Siddhartha Dasgupta (@siddhartha_tito) October 26, 2019

New india "Copy&Paste".... — HumaðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂâÂÂÂÂÂÂ¨ (@Humakas) October 26, 2019

Last month, Modi had urged people to launch a campaign to honour daughters who have made a mark with their achievements in various fields for the public good.

"Daughters are considered as Lakshmi in our culture. Can't we felicitate daughters in our villages and cities by holding public programmes?" Modi had suggested in his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' radio address.

The Prime Minister said on Diwali, Goddess Lakshmi is welcomed at homes as it is believed that she brings prosperity and happiness.

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