The Bharatiya Janata Party, in a promo video for the upcoming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, used a clipping of Bharatanatyam artiste and medical practitioner Srinidhi Chidambaram, triggering a reaction from the artiste, as well as others on Twitter.
The promo video was titled “the lotus ill bloom”. However, as per media reports, BJP subsequently deleted their tweet of the video.
Responding to a tweet pointing out the ‘faux pas’, Srinidhi Chidambaram appears to have responded (from an unverified Twitter account): “Ridiculous that the BJP has used my image for their propaganda.” She also wrote in Tamil that the Lotus will never bloom in Tamil Nadu.”
MORE DETAILS
Srinidhi Chidambaram is also the wife of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and daughter-in-law of former Union Minister P Chidambaram.
Her team has informed the NDTV that the video used by the BJP is from a performance for an edition of the World Classical Tamil Conference that was held over ten years ago.
CONGRESS HITS OUT
Meanwhile the the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee has hit out at the BJP for using Chidamabaram’s clipping without her consent, and said:
“Dear Tamil Nadu BJP, we understand ‘consent’ is a difficult concept for you to understand but you cannot use Mrs Srinidhi Karti Chidambaram’s image without her permission. All you’ve done is prove that your campaign is full of lies and propaganda.”
WHAT THE BJP SAID
The BJP, on their part, have blamed the error on a vendor who took the video from a government website, according to NDTV. A BJP IT wing member also claimed that there had been no violation.
(With inputs from NDTV.)
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