By Ananya Sharma 
Patna, May 28: Builder Sanjeev Shrivastav that gifting a portrait to a politician only works if the portrait actually looks like the politician.
The Patna-based builder and contractor, who runs a firm called Pallavi Raj Construction, presented a framed pencil sketch to Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary during a meeting in the city. He then did what anyone proud of a gesture like that would do: posted a photo of the moment on social media.
What followed was not the warm reception he was hoping for.
Within hours, the image was everywhere. Not because it was a touching tribute, but because almost no one looking at the sketch could figure out who it was meant to be. The CM himself, captured in the photograph studying the framed artwork, wore an expression that said more than any caption could.
Bihar’s Newest Internet Star Did Not Ask For the Job
The intention was clearly honorable. Presenting a portrait or painting to a public figure is one of those deeply Indian gestures of respect, the kind that happens at felicitation events, political gatherings, and official meetings across the country every single day. Most of the time, the photo gets taken, the frame gets accepted, and it quietly disappears into the back of some government office.
This time, the sketch had other plans.
Social media users were brutal in the way only the internet can be. The dominant question, repeated across hundreds of posts and comments, was some version of: “Who exactly is this supposed to be?” One widely shared caption simply read, “Who is he?” That was enough. The memes had their foundation and they built fast.
The Bollywood comparison came quickly, as it always does when a portrait misses its mark this badly. Majnu Bhai, the lovably delusional painting-obsessed gangster from the 2007 comedy Welcome, became the reference point of choice. The character, played memorably by Feroz Khan, is famous in Indian pop culture for painting utterly unrecognisable portraits with absolute confidence. The parallel practically wrote itself. Screenshots of Majnu Bhai’s cinematic disasters were placed next to the Patna sketch across X, Instagram, and WhatsApp forwards, and the comparison held up uncomfortably well.
The Delete That Made Things Worse
Here is where Shrivastav made his second mistake.
After the trolling picked up momentum, he deleted the original post. It is an understandable impulse. Anyone watching their social media moment turn into a national punchline would probably reach for the same button. The problem, of course, is that the internet had already done its work. Screenshots were saved and recirculated within minutes of the original going up. By the time he pulled the post, it had already been shared by journalists, commentators, and ordinary users across platforms.
Journalist Pankaj Jha, who posts under the handle @pankajjha_ on X, was among the first to share the image with a dry, amused caption about the CM seemingly wondering whose portrait he was holding. That tweet alone drew significant traction and set the tone for everything that followed.
The deletion itself became the second chapter of the story. On social media, removing a post that has gone viral does not make it go away. It just adds the word “deleted” to every subsequent reshare, which somehow makes the whole thing funnier.
Neither Shrivastav nor his firm had issued any public statement as of Wednesday morning.
Some Context on the CM, For Those Who Need It
Samrat Choudhary became Bihar’s 24th Chief Minister on April 15 this year, stepping into the role after Nitish Kumar’s resignation following his decision to contest the Rajya Sabha elections. Kumar’s exit ended roughly two decades of his dominance over Bihar’s political landscape, and Choudhary’s elevation marked the first time a BJP leader has held the chief minister’s chair in the state under the current NDA arrangement.
He is, in other words, still relatively new to the top job. Public attention on him remains high. That context matters here, because it explains, at least in part, why the sketch travelled as far and as fast as it did. A viral image involving a sitting CM, particularly one still establishing his public identity, was always going to find a wide audience.
Why This One Hit Different
India has a long and affectionate relationship with bad portraits of politicians. It is practically a subgenre of the internet. But not every awkward gift becomes a national moment, and it is worth asking why this one did.
Part of it is the photograph itself. The CM holding the sketch and visibly studying it, his expression hovering somewhere between confusion and diplomacy, is a picture that needs no explanation. It communicates everything in one frame. That kind of image is rare. Most viral moments require text or context to land. This one did not.
Part of it is also the Majnu Bhai connection, which gave younger Indian internet users an immediate cultural hook. Welcome remains one of those comedies that a generation of Indians grew up watching, and Majnu Bhai’s portraits are a specific, beloved kind of absurdity. The comparison did not feel forced. It felt earned.
And part of it, honestly, is just the timing. Bihar is coming off a politically significant transition, the country’s attention is loosely pointed at Patna, and a story this light and this visual was always going to travel.
Everyone Has Moved On. Except the Internet.
As of Thursday, neither the Chief Minister’s office nor Shrivastav has commented publicly on the whole affair. The CM, to his credit, has kept his own counsel. Any official response would only pour more fuel on something that is already dying down.
The sketch, wherever it has ended up, has done something genuinely rare. For a couple of days, it gave the entire country a shared laugh. No agenda, no political edge, no controversy worth worrying about. Just a well-meaning builder, a puzzled Chief Minister, and a portrait that looked like absolutely nobody in particular.
Somewhere in Patna, Sanjeev Shrivastav is probably hoping that is the last anyone speaks of it.
The internet, naturally, will decide that for him.
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- Ananya Sharma
- Ananya Sharma
- Ananya Sharma
- Ananya Sharma
Sandeep Verma