Kolkata, Sept 12
In a major embarrassment, a full-page advertisement carried in a national English daily showcasing the industrialisation and development of Uttar Pradesh under UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath featured a photograph of Kolkata’s Maa flyover.
The advertisement drew sharp criticism from several top ministers and leaders of the Trinamool Congress accusing Adityanath of “stealing images from infrastructure scenes in Bengal”.
The English daily, later, owned the responsibility of the fault.
“Transforming UP for @myogiadityanath means stealing images from infrastructure seen in Bengal under @MamataOfficial’s leadership and using them as his own! Looks like the ‘DOUBLE ENGINE MODEL’ has MISERABLY FAILED in BJP’s strongest state and now stands EXPOSED for all!,” TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee tweeted.
The tweet was immediately followed by Mukul Roy who has recently joined TMC from BJP. “Mr @narendramodi is so helpless to save his party that other than changing CMs, he has also had to resort to using pictures of growth & infrastructure seen under @MamataOfficial’s leadership, as his own,” Roy retweeted.
There were several others, including State Transport Minister Firhad Hakim, Commerce and industry minister Partha Chatterjee and MP Mahua Moitra, who joined the chorus.
“Previously, BJP used photos from failures of law & order of their states to spread misinformation about West Bengal. Now they use photos of the flyover built under the leadership of #MamataBanerjee and under the chairmanship of KMDA to advertise for the ‘development’ in UP,” Hakim said.
“Thuggy Yogi in his UP ads with Kolkata’s MAA flyover, our JW Marriott & our iconic yellow taxis! Change your soul or at least your ad agency Gudduji!…. P.S. Looking forward to FIRs against me in Noida now,” Moitra wrote.
“When even Ajay Bisht can’t help himself but use pictures of #BengalModel for his own publicity… Slow claps!” Chatterjee tweeted.
The advertisement “Transforming Uttar Pradesh Under Yogi Adityanath” carried on Sunday in an English language publication has a cut-out of Adityanath with a flyover that resembles Kolkata’s “Maa flyover” that connects the central part of the city with Salt Lake and Rajarhat located in the northeastern fringes of the city. The image also has Kolkata’s iconic yellow taxi and a high rise that resembles a five-star hotel in the city next to the Maa Flyover.
The English daily, however, later in the day ran a statement admitting that the fault lies with the marketing and advertorial team of the newspapers. The statement said, “A wrong image was inadvertently included in the cover collage of the advertorial on Uttar Pradesh produced by the marketing department of the newspaper. The error is deeply regretted and the image has been removed in all digital editions of the paper.”
Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who is also In charge of Uttar Pradesh, tweeted, “They give fake advertisement, fake jobs of lekhpal were offered to youths, now giving fake pictures of flyover and factories and claiming fake development. Neither they have any understanding of the people’s issues nor have they anything to do with it. The government is of fake advertisement and false claims.”
