Bobby Jindal's 'Ask Bobby' hashtag backfires on him

Washington, Jul 2: Indian-American Republican presidential aspirant Bobby Jindal once again found himself at the butt of jokes after he invited questions on Twitter which attracted a barrage of tweets with people asking bizarre questions, poking fun at him.

Ahead of a town hall event in Iowa, Jindal's Believe Again political action committee encouraged people to ask the presidential candidate questions on Twitter with the #AskBobby hashtag, and the move backfired.

The hashtag, which is used to track trending topics, quickly became among the top 10-most used topics on the service by Tuesday.

"First town hall featuring Bobby Jindal is tonight in Waukee. Send us your questions with #AskBobby! Be sure to include your name and city," Believe Again PAC tweeted.

[Bobby Jindal's popularity ratings still low, says CNN poll]

In response there was a barrage of tweets, mostly mocking Jindal and taking a swipe on his stand on gay marriage.

"Is the cognitive dissonance of having a biology degree and being viciously anti-science overwhelming?" a tweet said.

"#AskBobby #AskPiyush When did God create the Dinosaurs?" mocked a twitter user.

44-year-old Louisiana Governor's political stance was also mocked at.

"If you're going to spend 5 days a week in Iowa can we put the gov mansion on AirBnB & make up some of the deficit you've created?" a tweet said.

"I'm gay, an atheist & an immigrant. How would you work to punish me, while ignoring separation of church and state?" a person asked.

This is not the first time Jindal has been at the butt of jokes on social media. Indian-Americans had made fun of him after he announced his presidential bid and distanced himself from his Indian roots.

Jindal's talk about dehyphenating Americans had riled many Indians and he faced criticism on Twitter following the announcing of his presidential bid.

Jindal's campaign had got off to an awkward start after his team had put out a hidden camera video in which he and his wife were seen telling their kids about running for presidency but the idea was mocked and panned on social media.

Jindal, the first Indian-American to make a presidential bid, is the 13th Republican aspirant to target the White House in this election cycle.

PTI