For many of those hit by the disaster of a century, the minister came across as indulging in photo-op.

So soon enough, #Kannanthanamsleepchallenge was trending on Twitter, with people posting photos of them sleeping—or pretending to sleep. Here are some responses:

Some criticised the minister for being “insensitive” as they felt the photos mocked the relief operations.

On Thursday (Aug. 23), Kannanthanam clarified on his Facebook page that it was his personal staff that had posted those pictures.

This gave way to even more hilarity.

One such response to his clarification, when translated from Malayalam, means:

Personal staff is your enemy sir. Dismiss them, sir. Henceforth, be careful with every single move, sir. While you were asleep, they were simply loitering around, sir. They were playing peeping Tom, sir. If you don’t believe me, please zoom in on the photo, sir. Who killed Indiraji, sir?

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