Xi walked past the priests waiting for the rituals at the airport. This created a rumour that he refused to accept the honour.
CHENNAI: The state government on Friday brought five priests including the chief priest from Sri Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore to honour the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping with ‘Poornakumbham’ – a traditional reception given to dignitaries.
The priests had been waiting for their moment at the airport. Exactly at 2.15 pm, Jinping stepped out of his flight and walked on the red carpet while witnessing the performance of folk artistes after meeting the governor, chief minister and others.
After a few minutes, he came near the priests waiting for the ‘Poornakumbham’ and just walked away. This had created a rumour that the Chinese President refused to accept the honour as normally, any dignitary would acknowledge the honour and stand till the priests complete the rituals.
But the video shows that Xi just walked past the priests without making any gestures to indicate that he wanted to refuse the ‘Poornakumbham’.
Those who witnessed this blamed the officials for failing to inform the President about the cultural importance of ‘Poornakumbham’.
