Laughs guaranteed: epic memes on PIB's doctored image of the Prime Minister

One would think the government would leap to provide relief in times of crisis, and certainly #ChennaiFloods counts as a crisis of epic scale.

Instead, the govt-run PIB decided to inject some humour rather than hope into the situation by tweeting a photoshopped image of the Prime Minister on an aerial survey of Chennai. Except they failed to check with the PM whether he was tweeting the image himself.

Result: one of the most meme-worthy moments of recent public life as two versions of the same photograph hit social media. The Prime Minister's, which was this

C'mon, @PIB_India. Stay away from Photoshop. pic.twitter.com/VpxHtj7mHG

- Tanvi Madan (@tanvi_madan) December 3, 2015

And PIB's 'enhanced' version, which looked like this

Photo: PIB

The tweet was promptly deleted by the photoshop-happy folks at PIB, but not before Twitter got a good look.

And when Twitter gets its teeth into something, you know some share-worthy gems are on the cards. Here, ten of our favourite interpretations of Modi and the window on social media.

via GIPHY

Where no more countries are left to visit... pic.twitter.com/KgXsW0qufb

- BB (@brownbrumby) December 3, 2015

Arey Donald bhai.... #ModiSeesTheWorld pic.twitter.com/kBk7xMpftl

- BB (@brownbrumby) December 3, 2015

cabinet meeting of d 2 foreign ministers of india#PhotoShopSarkar pic.twitter.com/nOO4kzQS3L

- Vinay Dokania (@vinaydokania) December 4, 2015

Real unedited pic of Modi surveying damage on Twitter after PIB photoshop tweet pic.twitter.com/dbAtlXTzgQ

- ... (@bwoyblunder) December 3, 2015

umm pic.twitter.com/QEuNgYn009

- k (@krazyfrog) December 3, 2015

Friendship ended with AIB. PIB is my new best friend pic.twitter.com/5AXdstI7sy

- samit basu (@samitbasu) December 3, 2015

Rajdeep can sell his book anywhere. pic.twitter.com/74PGlrmuJJ

- Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) December 3, 2015

That one from Mars. Thanks to @PIB_India !! @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/4gwMovCeLz

- The डिक्टेटर (@Roflnath) December 3, 2015

Our PM washing his clothes to wear them for his next foreign trip.#PhotoshopSarkar pic.twitter.com/Ff5GIHIQ9j

- Bilal Ahmed (@BilalAhmedNgp) December 4, 2015

When your boss is watching and you don't know it. 😂😂😂😉 #PhotoshopSarkar pic.twitter.com/WFeHQ9nUbD

- Vinay Dokania (@vinaydokania) December 4, 2015

On a more serious note, the Prime Minister was clearly annoyed; Reuters quoted a senior official at the PMO saying it was "shocked to see facts being distorted" and added that "officials from the press office have been summoned to reinforce rules and regulations."

We'd like that, but in the meanwhile, thanks for a different kind of 'relief', PIB.