French President Emmanuel Macron Welcomes Spain's King With The Ol' Indian Namaste
PM Modi urged citizens of the country to adopt namaste over handshakes. People abroad have also taken up the same practice. French President Emmanuel Macron greeted Spains king and queen by replacing the traditional handshake with an Indian-style namast.
The novel coronavirus spreads through contact with respiratory droplets during coughing and sneezing, doctors say. To keep viruses at bay, people are now opting for safer ways to greet each other and the Indian namaste seems to have won the game.
Reuters
After PM Modi urged citizens of the country to adopt namaste over handshakes, people abroad have also taken up the same practice.
Among them is French President Emmanuel Macron who greeted Spain¡¯s king and queen by replaced the traditional handshake with an Indian-style namaste,
Twitter
Beside Macron as he welcomed King Felipe VI in the courtyard of the Elysee Palace in Paris, French first lady Brigitte Macron played her part too, blowing a kiss in the direction of Queen Letizia by way of greeting.
Namaste ?? ??
¡ª Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) March 12, 2020
See we Indians told to do this to world many many years ago. Now just a class on ¡®how to do namaste properly¡¯. #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/P1bToirPin
Indian Forest Services officer Parveen Kaswan took to Twitter this morning to share a video which shows people greeting each other with a namaste. "Namaste," he wrote. "See we Indians told to do this to world many many years ago."
Reuters
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also advised citizens to opt for namaste earlier this month. "Just avoid shaking hands as I do. You can try to implement the Indian system of Namaste or say another word like shalom, but find a way, any way of not shaking hands," Mr Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu announcing Israel's new extreme measures against #corona. Orders Israelis to stop shaking hands, suggests following Indian custom of namaste instead. ?? pic.twitter.com/8dGZUUtwEU
¡ª Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) March 4, 2020
European public health authorities say people should avoid shaking hands to curb the spread of coronavirus, which can be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact.
Spain has 2,124 confirmed cases of the virus, while in France there are 1,784 cases, according to the latest data collated by Reuters.
