‘M for Melody, not Mehengai’: Congress mocks Modi over Meloni video, claims viral reel ‘insult to Indians suffering’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘M for Melody, not Mehengai’: Congress mocks Modi over Meloni video, claims viral reel ‘insult to Indians suffering’")
Congress slams Modi’s viral ‘Melodi’ reel amid inflation, fuel price anger Photograph: (Screenshot/Video/X-INCIndia)
The Congress on Thursday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his now-viral “Melodi” moment with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, accusing him of prioritising social media optics while ordinary Indians struggle with inflation and rising living costs. Here's what the party said.
As PM Narendra Modi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni set the internet on fire with their Melody toffee video, Congress on Thursday (May 21) launched a sharp attack against the Indian Prime Minister. In a post on X, the chief Opposition party trolled Modi, commenting, "he can't say M for Mehengai (inflation), but he can say M for Melody". In another X video, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi slammed the PM, noting that while Modi himself urged the people of India to refrain from buying gold, driving a lot and going abroad, "he himself travels abroad on a plane worth thousands of crores of rupees, feeding Italian Prime Minister Meloni a Melody toffee."
An insult to the people of India
Gandhi alleged that the now viral “reel that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made is an insult to the people of India who are suffering.”
Congress, in its video, claimed that Indians suffer in poverty while PM Modi "distributes Melody" toffees during his visit to Italy. The opposition party also posted a video montage contrasting economic hardships with clips of Modi gifting the popular Indian toffee to Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. "The country is struggling with a huge financial crisis...but what is the Prime Minister doing? Distributing toffees in Italy like Santa Claus."
"Farmers, youths, women, workers, small businessmen — they are all crying...(while) PM laughs, makes reels, distributes toffees..Do something Mr. Modi... Do something!" it adds.
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The viral Melody moment
In what was a brilliant social media strategy, Indian PM Modi, who is on a multi-nation visit, in a viral "sweet" moment, gifted the Italian PM a packet of a popular Indian toffee called Melody. A video reel of the moment went viral online, with people enjoying Modi's nod to the viral nickname 'MeloDi', which the internet has coined for him and PM Meloni. In the video, the Italian PM says that Prime Minister Modi has got a “very very special gift from India”. PM Modi then responds by saying ‘Melodi’ while showing a packet of Melody toffees.
The term “Melodi” is a viral nickname created by social media users by blending the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Both leaders were aware of the trend and joined in during the COP28 summit in Dubai in 2023. At the time, Meloni posted a selfie with Modi, captioning it “Good friends at COP28 #Melodi.” The buzz around the nickname resurfaced when Meloni welcomed Modi to Rome with another selfie. Social media users flooded the post with comments like “Melodi is back”.
