On Sunday, Imran Khan tweeted a verse to commet on the current political scenario. He attributed it to the famous poet, known commonly as Mirza Ghalib. But he deleted the tweet soon after realising that he had made another blooper.

In reality, the couplet that Imran Khan tweeted was not penned by the great poet. Instead, it originated from a dialogue in the popular Indian television series based on Ghalib’s life during the era of the last ruler in Mughal India.

Renowned Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah, who plays Ghalib, recites the verse translated below:

“I did not know I had so much to sell at home Here, everything from land to conscience is for sale”

Imran’s tweet wrongly stated that Ghalib recited the verse at the time of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, as a harbinger of colonisation of the Subcontinent by the British. He then compared the situation at that time with what Pakistan is facing today, blaming his politival rivals for bringing about the decline. The verse is superimposed on an image of the three key coalition leaders - Fazalur Rehman, PM Shehbaz Sharif, and Asif Ali Zardari.

Ghalib fans pointed out Imran’s mistake, after which the tweet was deleted. It did result in a deluge of memes and trolling.

The drama “Mirza Ghalib” was released in 1988 on India’s official channel Doordarshan. Written by the Indian poet Gulzar, this play also included the ghazals of Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh.