The internet went into a tizzy after Italian PM Giorgio Meloni shared her selfie with PM Modi from COP28, causing the hashtag ‘Melodi’ to trend on X, a social media platform earlier known as Twitter. By Saturday afternoon, the photograph had garnered over 19.9 million impressions on X, besides 49K retweets and 267K likes.
The heads of the two states met in Dubai, at the the United Nations ‘Conference of the Parties’ on Climate, COP28. During the meeting, the 46-year-old Italian leader, well-versed in social media trends, captioned the image with ‘#Melodi,’ a hashtag formed by combining the surnames of both leaders.
PM Modi too responded to Italian PM Meloni’s tweet saying: “Meeting friends is always a delight.”
PM Modi’s response came after social media was rife with memes and discussions on the bonhomie between the two leaders. In no time, the internet started buzzing with ‘#Melodi’, with social media platforms awash with discussions on the selfie of Italian PM Meloni with PM Modi.
One of the X users commented, “Well that’s the best selfie ever & this is gonna break the internet,” and added #Melodi in his tweet.
Another X user commented on Meloni’s picture by tweeting the popular viral catchphrase, “So beautiful, so elegant, just looking like a WOW.”
India Today journalist Gaurav Sawant also weighed in on the picture. “#Melodi has a zing to it,” the journalist replied.
While the EMI triggered a meme fest and rave reactions from social media users, some made pithy observations of the growing power of Indian social media and its realisation among Western leaders.
Author and political commentator Ajit Datta tweeted, “World leaders have realised the power of Indian social media and are keeping close tabs on it.”
Many others also used the picture to take a dig at the Gandhis. Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, some social media users suggested that PM Modi should extend an invitation to Meloni to join him in India for his 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, delivering a fitting response to “an Italian by an Italian.”
The ‘Italian’ reference was for Rahul Gandhi’s mother, Sonia Gandhi, who is said to have been born in a small village near Vicenza, Italy. After finishing her primary education in local schools, she relocated to Cambridge, England, where she reportedly met Rajiv Gandhi and subsequently married him in 1968.
The hashtag and the selfie of the two world leaders was an object of discussion on other social media platforms too, with several users sharing videos capturing Modi and Meloni’s interactions at the summit. The online response included numerous memes, with certain posts amassing millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes on Instagram.
Some creative social media users also created memes and montages of the two leaders, paired with Bollywood scores, earning praise for the chemistry between the two leaders.