New York City Mayor Eric Adams made a huge mistake during the 78th Indian Independence Day celebrations in Queens, where he mistakenly pronounced ‘India’ as ‘Pakistan’, not once but thrice. A day earlier, Adams had delivered a speech at the flag hoisting ceremony at the same venue for Pakistan’s Independence Day.
The incident took place at Queens’ 9th India Day Parade on Saturday. Adams addressed the crowd from a stage decorated with Indian flags, tricolour balloons and banners that read “Mayor Adams Celebrates the Indian Community.”
Holding both the Indian tricolour and the US flag, Adam was surrounded by attendees who were waving Indian flags and wearing tricolour-themed apparel.
During his speech, Adams mentioned Pakistan several times. He meant India.
“We raised the flag in Bowling Green earlier this week… and I think the greatest symbol of what you give to this community is the men and women who are part of the law enforcement community, who are here, the ‘Pakistani’ officers, who continue to grow in numbers and ranks because they continue to show that public safety is a prerequisite to our prosperity,” Adams said, according to news agency PTI.
He made this mistake many times.
He added, “So I thank you for allowing me to be here. I’ve known this community for a very long time, from Little Pakistan in Queens to Little Pakistan in Brooklyn, you are a key foundation of our whole city. So let us continue to celebrate your freedom.”
Eventually someone in the crowd corrected him, shouting, “India”, “This is India”.
The mistake was hard to ignore because Adams attended a flag-raising ceremony at Bowling Green Park in Lower Manhattan on August 15 to mark India’s Independence Day. But how did it happen? The mistake may have occurred because he had addressed another crowd at the same location a day earlier to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day.