It was meant to be a note aimed to generate goodwill. Instead, it set off an unexpected fracas.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in's tweet on Oct 31 thanking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sending him custom-tailored "Modi vests" generated an online furore, prompting many Indians to step in to assert that the garments are "Nehru jackets", named after the country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
"It's really nice of our PM to send these but could he not have sent them without changing the name? All my life I've known these jackets as Nehru jackets & now I find these ones have been labelled 'Modi Jacket'. Clearly nothing existed in India before 2014 (the year Mr Modi came into power)," tweeted Mr Omar Abdullah, a prominent opposition leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
This sartorial dispute mirrors the bitter and deep ideological divide today between the left and right in India. It has reignited concerns that the current government is appropriating Nehru's legacy, as well as obliterating it, to suit its agenda.
The government has proposed to set up a museum for all prime ministers in the Teen Murti Bhavan, Nehru's former residence - a move the Congress has alleged is a bid to "obliterate" Nehru's legacy.
Congress leader Nehru, who died in 1964, is seen as a leader who helped set up India as a "secular" state that some Hindus, including leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, believe has appeased minorities at the expense of the majority Hindu community.
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ESM Goh expresses fondness for vest
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Singapore's Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong is a fan of the Modi jacket. In June, the former prime minister was seen in a charcoal grey version of the jacket when he and visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid their respects to Mahatma Gandhi at Clifford Pier.
He also wore the jacket at the launch of his memoir last Thursday.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post on Nov 3, Mr Goh mentioned his fondness for the garment, explaining how it keeps him warm in Singapore's air-conditioned spaces, and suggested that the vest could start "an India fashion fever" in Singapore.
Mr Goh said he had the vest made in India. And when Mr Modi saw him wearing it, four more vests arrived in the post.
To be fair, Mr Moon was merely referring to the brand of the vests sent to him. JadeBlue, the Gujarat firm that produces them and has been tailoring garments for Mr Modi since the 1980s brands them as "Modi jackets". The term has gained popularity, with the Indian leader donning colourful variations in recent years - a fashion statement that has become his hallmark.
The traditional Indian jacket, however, was first popularised by Nehru, who wore it frequently throughout his political career.
The Nehru jacket is a front-buttoned, hip-length sleeveless vest with a short unfolded stand-up collar, also known as the mandarin collar. It has three front pockets, two below and one above on the left. It is mostly made from khadi (hand-spun cotton) fabrics and even silk.
Nehru wore this jacket with knee-length kurtas and pyjamas, a style that still endures. He also wore a longer full-sleeved version of this jacket that extends below the knee, and has a front opening down to the hem but fastened with buttons from neck to waist.
Given Nehru's global popularity, the jackets attained an international following and were named after him. The Beatles adopted it too, wearing variations at different phases of their career, including at the 1965 Shea Stadium concert in New York. The jacket was even ranked seventh in Time's top 10 political fashion statements in 2012.
The controversy has forced JadeBlue managing director Bipin Chauhan to point out differences between a Modi and Nehru jacket.
He told The Indian Express newspaper: "Nehruji used to largely wear white and off-white jackets. He never wore colours. Modiji brought in colours and a new design. It has become a style statement even among corporates."
Mr Chauhan also said Modi jackets are a "bit longer and more comfortable in fit than Nehru jackets".
While agreeing that Nehru wore pale "English" shades, unlike Mr Modi's preference for bright colours, Mr Kanishka Poddar, the marketing and public relations manager of Mulberry Lifestyle, says the Modi jacket is "not different at all" from the Nehru one.
His firm specialises in the design and sale of Nehru jackets. "We have global customers in Australia, the US and everywhere else. They still recognise it as Nehru jacket. The global acceptance of the garment is still one as a Nehru jacket, not Modi jacket," he told The Sunday Times.
He, however, thinks Mr Modi has "rebranded and repopularised" the garment with his "charisma and appeal among the youth".
"It is like bell bottoms that were introduced in trousers in the 1970s, only to return in late 1990s in denims. The fashion remains the same," Mr Poddar added.
A more convincing sartorial claim that can be made on behalf of Mr Modi is a half-sleeve kurta the leader is known to have designed himself.
As the "Modi vs Nehru" controversy rages online, the government-run Khadi and Village Industries Commission is holding a sale of Modi kurtas and jackets at its premier New Delhi showroom.
