UP IAS officer posts photo of cooking 'under Home Minister's guidance', but gas stove is off

Photo for representational purpose

Kanpur-based Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Raj Shekhar recently posted a photo of himself on Twitter trying to cook poha, however, he forgot one crucial step, to light the stove, and Twitterati was quick to notice.

The oversight led the Kanpur Commissioner to be mocked by users on the microblogging platform, although some of them also came to his defense, stating that the gas may have been turned off after the dish was cooked.

"Please wish me good luck. Trying my luck in cooking...Preparing the poha for the breakfast under guidance of Home Minister [sic]," he wrote while sharing the pic, which shows him wearing earphones and smiling for the camera while holding a spatula.

Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi used the pic as an opportunity to take a dig at the rising cost of cooking gas.

"Cooking without fire while dressed in a suit ...yeah you do need help. Help in staging social media pics (sic)," quipped one.

"The stove is off. Airpods are on. A typical Indian bureaucrat," said another.

"Masterstroke. United Nations has lauded this idea as this reduces global warming by half," posted a user.

Raj Shekhar is a 2004 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, who is currently serving as Commissioner of Kanpur.