New Delhi: The Delhi BJP included a photograph of eminent Tamil writer Perumal Murugan, among a group of faces that were seemingly meant to be representative of the national capital’s slum dwellers. The mistake was spotted on promotional material for the Delhi BJP’s Jhuggi Samman Yatra campaign, held across slums in the city, to educate residents about the benefits of central government schemes meant for them.
The month-and-a-half-long drive concluded with a two-day campaign in Patel Nagar over Monday and Tuesday. The poster with Murugan’s photo was part of the event at Patel Nagar Monday, which were addressed by BJP National President J.P. Nadda and Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta.
आज दिल्ली के पटेल नगर में झुग्गी सम्मान यात्रा को संबोधित किया।
हमारे झुग्गी-झोपड़ी में रहने वाले भाइयों-बहनों को सम्मानपूर्वक जीवन जीने का हक मिल सके, इसके लिए भाजपा प्रयासरत है। pic.twitter.com/uHjpvDTSNs
— Jagat Prakash Nadda (Modi Ka Parivar) (@JPNadda) November 29, 2021
आज पटेल नगर विधानसभा में #JhuggiSammanYatra के समापन में उमड़ा झुग्गीवासियों का यह विशाल जन-सैलाब भाजपा के प्रति उनके विश्वास व प्रेम को दर्शाता है। pic.twitter.com/mzheD6MpPP
— Adesh Gupta (@adeshguptabjp) November 29, 2021
The poster had also been shared on Twitter through the Delhi BJP’s official handle.
आज प्रातः 10 बजे जवाहर कैम्प,कीर्ति नगर इंडस्ट्रियल एरिया से प्रदेश अध्यक्ष श्री @adeshguptabjp के नेतृत्व में #JhuggiSammanYatra निकलेगी जिसका शुभारंभ प्रदेश प्रभारी श्री @PandaJay करेंगे।
Watch it live on-
●https://t.co/gJXAwCdJGy
●https://t.co/hRBzdtm3TK pic.twitter.com/qaSTQTSfe6— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) October 15, 2021
A BJP leader was quoted by The Indian Express as admitting to the mistake. In a Facebook post, Murugan said, “Being one of the huts. Happy happy happy. I belong to the slums. Delighted.”
ThePrint reached Delhi BJP President Adesh Gupta over the phone, but he refused to comment on the matter. ThePrint also reached BJP Delhi vice-president Virendra Sachdeva, BJP Delhi spokesperson Harish Khurana and BJP Delhi vice-president Ashok Goel over phone, but none of them commented on the matter.
While Sachdeva and Khurana said Goel was the event organiser and therefore the one to speak on this, he too refused comment.
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‘Will check with design team’
Murugan has written six novels and four collections each of short stories and poetry. The 55-year-old author is known for works such as Poonachi or The Story of a Black Goat and Madhorubhagan or One Part Woman. Most of his books focus on social oppression and the subjugation of the weak.
His 2014 work, Madhorubhagan, revolving around the theme of childlessness and the extent to which a couple is pushed by society to have a child, sparked an outrage with many Right-wing groups, including the BJP and the RSS, seeking a ban on it for allegedly depicting the Kailasanathar in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchengode in bad light.
The book had fetched Murugan the ILF Samanvay Bhasha Samman in 2015.
While the author gave up writing for a while, following the protests, he made a comeback with Poonachi in 2018.
Talking to The Indian Express about the poster fiasco, a BJP leader reportedly said, “As per procedure, an original photograph from a previous BJP programme or rally should have been used, instead of such a photograph whose source is not known”.
The newspaper quoted BJP Delhi vice-president Rajan Tiwari as having said that they “will check with the design team about what happened”.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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