United States (US) Vice President (VP) JD Vance was in Switzerland for talks on the US-Iran peace deal when he decided to slip in a joke that has Indian social media meltdown.

Speaking to reporters at the Lake Lucerne Summit, Vance stood alongside Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and revealed who were the “two very, very important people” to him, naming his Indian wife Usha Vance and Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Asim Munir in the same breath.

“I’ve probably talked to Field Marshal Munir more than I’ve talked to anybody in the last three months,” he added.

While the joke cracked dignitaries up and was well-received by audiences around the globe, Indians were, as usual, left triggered.

“Is he saying his wife isn’t an American or is he just making a joke?” asked one user. Another followed, “So he just called his American born wife an ‘Indian’?”

“Madam Usha Vance did a big mistake of marrying this chauvinistic,” one comment read.

The ones who tried to stay political didn’t do much better.

“JD Vance would call Asim Munir the second most important person in his life after his wife and then expect India to lay out a red carpet for them,” fumed one user, before adding, with some finality: “It’s better to stay alone than have partners like these.”

Another took a longer view: “Americans are going to regret this statement so badly one day.”

A few Indians, to their credit, turned the mirror inward. “The problem was Indians themselves. You literally made Trump your god, and now he is sidelining India, so you are crying.”

Another put it more bluntly: “No one likes to align themselves with the defeated party in the war.”

Pakistan, meanwhile, was having a field day. “Indians are crying, it’s their daily routine. What happened to the friendship between Mr Modi and Trump, the great American president? What happened to the worshipping of Trump that Indians used to do?” asked a Pakistani on X.

And then, one line from a Pakistani user that probably stung Indian netizens the most, was: “The only Indian JD Vance likes is his wife.”