TMC taunts BJP as Yogi government advertisement shows flyover in Kolkata
Kolkata: West Bengal’s ruling Trinamul Congress accused the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh government Sunday of “theft and duplicity” in its propaganda after an English newspaper advertorial featuring chief minister Yogi Adityanath carried photos of Kolkata’s famous Maa Flyover and a top hotel on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass as among his achievements in development work.
The TMC lost no opportunity to taunt and ridicule the BJP over the episode. Posting the photo of the advertorial online, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee tweeted: “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!”
Mukul Roy, who returned to the Trinamul Congress after winning a West Bengal Assembly seat on a BJP ticket, tweeted: "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.”
State transport minister Firhad Hakim also tweeted: “I always knew that imitation is the best form of flattery but #YogiAdityanath takes it to another level! Images of infrastructure under @MamataOfficial’s leadership being shown as theirs isn’t just a gaffe by a hired agency, it is a reflection of the actual state of affairs in UP.”
RTI activist Saket Gokhale, who recently joined the TMC, tweeted: “Lol the image on the bottom left is from Kolkata -- of the Maa Flyover. Zoom in & you can also see the iconic Kolkata yellow Ambassador taxi on the flyover. ‘Transforming UP’ means spending millions on newspaper ads around India & stealing pics of development in Kolkata?”
For damage control, BJP’s Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari later tweeted the newspaper’s correction and claimed: “Fake propaganda peddlers latched on to an advertorial error of a newspaper. @myogiadityanath ji’s govt is a testimony of growth & development. The UP govt doesn’t need to borrow (that too image) from a state on the verge of bankruptcy due to mismanagement of its administration.”
