TN BJP uses Karti Chidambaram’s wife’s dance clip for poll promo; deletes tweet

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deleted a video clip of the performance of physician and Bharatanatyam dancer Srinidhi Chidambaram on a Tamil anthem at the 2010 World Classical Tamil Conference from its Twitter handle after drawing flak for using it without permission. The clip was posted with a Tamil caption: “Let the lotus [BJP’s election symbol] bloom. Let Tamil Nadu progress. Vote for lotus.” It used the hashtag #voteforBJP.

“Ridiculous that the BJP has used my image for their propaganda,” said Srinidhi Chidambaram, who is the wife of Congress leader Karti Chidambaram, quote tweeting a journalist’s tweet. “The lotus will never bloom,” she added in Tamil.

Late Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader M Karunanidhi wrote the anthem for the conference and musician AR Rahman composed its music.

Also Read | Court summons P Chidambaram and Karti in INX Media case

BJP’s state Information Technology wing chief CT Nirmal Kumar said a third-party advertisement agency posted the clip. “They provide some ads for us and this was one among the 30-40 ads. It is been done unknowingly,” Kumar said. He added the party is taking it up with the agency. The tweet has been removed.

DMK’s IT-wing head PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan said, “As long as such brainy people exist in the BJP, the lotus will not bloom for another 100 years.”

In a tweet, the Congress said: “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 & propaganda.”

Tamil Nadu goes to polls on April 6. DMK, a Congress ally that swept the 2019 national polls in the state, seeks to wrest power from BJP’s alliance partner, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which has been in power for 10 years.