During the Q&A round of the Miss Kohima beauty pageant, one of the contestants, Vikuono Sachu, was asked by the panel what she would tell Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi if invited for a chat with him.
Sachu, who was crowned second runner-up of the Miss Kohima Contest, said she would advise him to “focus more on women instead of cows”.
"If I were invited to have a chat with the prime minister of India, I would tell him to focus more on women instead of cows," the 18-year-old can be heard saying in the footage which has gone viral on social media.
The viral video has racked up over 100,000 views since posted and has sparked sharp reactions on Twitter, kicking off a debate, in which several Indians called her out for being “ignorant”, while others saw her response as an attempt to draw media attention.
Several others, however, hailed the contestant for her impromptu reply and for freely speaking her mind.
The contestant’s response took over the social media platform as it came at a time when incidents of mob lynching and violence over cattle smuggling or fringe cow vigilante groups have increasingly been reported.