Posted On
Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 05:17:19 AM
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Congress's Gujarat unit was at the centre of a row
on Monday over a picture it used for a poll advertisement on malnutrition in
the state amid allegations it was 'lifted' from a website of a Christian
organization depicting a Sri Lankan child.
Gujarat Congress party's "Join hands for change" advertisements which appeared in some newspapers and posted on its website claims that 45 per cent of children in the state were malnourished. A photograph in the ad also showed a malnourished child in the arms of a woman. The social media, however, went abuzz with claims that the picture of the skinny and malnourished baby was, in fact, a victim of flood in Sri Lanka which was lifted from a web site. "The photograph is symbolic and rather than focussing on the picture, the BJP should counter the figures given in the advertisement," said Siddharth Patel, in charge of Gujarat state Congress' poll campaign while defending the move. "Around 45 per cent of children in Gujarat are malnourished. Can BJP deny this fact?", Patel asked. The BJP has seized the opportunity to take on the Congress, calling the poll ad a "dishonest campaign". "The Congress campaign in Gujarat has not been based on facts at all. It has been based on absolute fictitious facts," BJP leader Balbir Punj said in New Delhi. In Ahmedabad, BJP spokesperson Jagdish Bhavsar demanded an apology from the Congress. |
