In September 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a massive gathering of the Indian diaspora in New York. At a packed Madison Square Garden, he declared: "Our ancestors used to play with snakes, but now we play with the mouse."

Modi was talking up India's digital revolution, while recalling a trip to Taiwan where an interpreter mentioned that he identified India as a country of snakes and snake charmers. It's a stereotype that "modern Indians" have for long been trying to shake off, given that the practice has been banned and the profession is almost obsolete. So when British news channel BBC posted the below tweet on Monday afternoon, it didn't go down too well with its Indian audience.

To be fair, the channel appeared to have its heart in the right place to begin with. But a tweet without context put it in a world of trouble.

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BBC Pop Up is a travelling bureau that films stories across India. One of its promotional videos some time ago contained footage of a snake charmer, prompting criticism from social media users who felt that the image of men hypnotising snakes no longer symbolised India.

So the channel set about investigating whether snake charmers offend India's cultural identity and whether that branding holds the country back. It also visited a village of snake charmers in Delhi to find out how they were coping since the practice was banned on wildlife protection grounds a decade ago.

The conversation that followed should have pertainted to the fate of India's snake charmers. But BBC Pop Up's promotional tweet led to talk about racist mindsets instead, eventually forcing an apology.

And angry tweets came thick and fast as Indians had questions of their own for the BBC.