Gujarat Cong poll ad on malnutrition a fraud?

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Congress has shot itself in the foot over its desperation to portray the Narendra Modi-led BJP government in the state in bad light: this time through its own election advertisement.

The Congress's election advertisement -- part of the ad campaign 'Join Hands for Congress' - says that 45 per cent of the children in Gujarat are malnourished under the leadership of Modi. It also shows the pathetic photograph of a malnourished infant as 'proof' to drive home the point.

Only the photograph is that of a Sri Lankan infant and was taken during Sri Lankan floods by a UNICEF photographer, and is not related to Gujarat at all.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has said that the Congress has perpetrated a fraud on the people of Gujarat in an election advertisement that the party released in the state. The Congress has made such ad goof-ups time and again. Earlier this year, the party released an advertisement which praised its arch rival Narendra Modi to the skies. In yet another ad, the Gujarat Congress used the image of a child from East Africa to make 'show' the pathetic condition of children in the state, but that too was proven wrong.

The current case was 'exposed' by a pro-BJP website which compared the two pictures (the original and the one in the Congress ad).

The Congress, however, has tried to wash its hands of the controversy and said that the picture was only used for representative purposes (although the ad does not clarify that the photo is that of a Sri Lankan child and not from Gujarat). The party also blamed the advertising agency it has hired for the ad campaign for the 'error'.

The BJP, meanwhile, has blasted the Congress, saying that it should apologise to the people of Gujarat for 'tarnishing the image of the state'.

The Congress in its defence said that the BJP was trivialising the issue. Whether the photo is real or not is not of significance; what is important is 'the fact that 45 per cent children in Gujarat are malnourished', the Congress alleged.

The advertisement, meanwhile, has gone viral on the Internet.

The two-phase Gujarat elections take place on December 13 and 17. Counting will be undertaken on December 20.

The Congress is becoming increasingly frustrated at all the set-backs it is receiving and cannot even think properly.

You should not blame them.

They should be pitied for they are fighting a losing balance against the onslught of Arvind Kejriwal and Anna.