Golden Mosque Amritsar? UK Top Diplomat Simon McDonald Apologised For Referring Golden Temple as Mosque
Simon McDonald faced a lot of backlash for his wrong tweet, post which he had to apologise.
Amritsar, April 25: Simon McDonald, permanent under-secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had to apologise on Tuesday for a major gaffe when he referred Golden Temple in Amritsar as the 'Golden Mosque'. After facing backlash on social media, he apologised for his mistake and said, "I was wrong: I am sorry. I should of course have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib."
There was a lot of criticism as people felt that someone in such a senior position and while visiting the Sikh homeland should have been careful before making such a fundamental mistake.
At QBP in Chandigarh @SinghLions presented @DHCAndrewAyre with picture of HM The Queen at Golden Mosque in Amritsar in 1997, a permanent memento for Deputy High Commission’s wall @UKinIndia pic.twitter.com/GFkBT0GcRU
— Sir Simon McDonald (@SMcDonaldFCO) April 23, 2018
He apologised for his tweet:
I was wrong: I am sorry. I should of course have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib. https://t.co/4rJ4mwOdCJ
— Sir Simon McDonald (@SMcDonaldFCO) April 24, 2018
According to Tribune, Bhai Amrik Singh, chairman of the Sikh Federation, said, “This was a major gaffe by a top civil servant and totally unacceptable. It demonstrates a remarkable level of ignorance from someone in his position."
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 25, 2018 08:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
