In faux pas, Tamil Nadu BJP uses Srinidhi Chidambaram’s dance performance clip for party promo

The promotional video, which runs for more than five minutes, showcased the greatness of Tamil language, culture, and how the saffron party is helping the state to grow.

In the video, a footage of a classical dancer was shown to highlight the cultural value of the state. (Screenshot of YouTube video)

Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party Tuesday was trolled by netizens on social media for using the footage of Dr. Srinidhi Chidambaram, wife of Sivaganga Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, in one of their promotional videos ahead of the state Assembly polls. On March 28, the party had shared a video on their Twitter page titled “Let Lotus Bloom, let Tamil Nadu grow.”

The over 5-minute-long promotional video showcased the greatness of Tamil language, culture, and how the saffron party is helping the state to grow.

In the video, a footage of a classical dancer was shown to highlight the cultural value of the state. And the dancer in the video is none other than Dr. Srinidhi Chidambaram, a popular Bharatanatyam dancer and wife of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram.

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The footage was taken from Srinidhi’s performance for the ‘Semmozhi’ song popularly known as the Tamil anthem that was penned down by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and late DMK President M Karunanidhi in 2010 for the World Tamil Conference. The song was composed by AR Rahman and directed by Gautam Vasudev Menon.

Screenshot from BJP Twitter handle before it was deleted. (Source: Twitter)

BJP’s faux pas came to light when a journalist took a screenshot of both the videos and shared it on her Twitter page.

Srinidhi Chidambaram too quickly reacted to the development act and said “Lotus will never bloom in Tamil Nadu.”

Faux pas by Tamil Nadu BJP! 🙈

They have used a portion of Bharatanatyam performed by Srinidhi Karti Chidambaram in their election promo.

She had performed this 10 years back for the "Semmozhi" song penned by M Karunanidhi and composed by AR Rahman. #TamilNaduElections pic.twitter.com/dlEsNFR8rx

— Shilpa (@Shilpa1308) March 30, 2021

Ridiculous that the @bjp4india has used my image for their propaganda. தமிழகத்தில் தாமரை என்றும் மலராது. @BJP4India

— srinidhi chidambaram (@srinidhichid) March 30, 2021

Responding to the incident. Tamil Nadu Congress Committee said that what BJP did proves that their campaign is full of lies.

Dear @BJP4TamilNadu, 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. pic.twitter.com/CTYSK9S9Qw

— Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (@INCTamilNadu) March 30, 2021

https://twitter.com/SriramMadras/status/1376893500512346113

After the fake PM Awas Yojana Ad in West Bengal, BJP again uses a woman's picture without her consent for its propaganda in Tamil Nadu!

BJP = LIES https://t.co/aagm4F57O1

— Ruchira Chaturvedi (@RuchiraC) March 30, 2021

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The video has now been deleted by the party. However, netizens were quick to take screenshots to troll the saffron party.

Tamil Nadu goes to polls in a single phase on April 6. The results of the elections will be announced on May 2.

Janardhan Koushik

Janardhan Koushik is Deputy Copy Editor of indianexpress.com. He is a New Media journalist with over five years of reporting experience in the industry. He has a keen interest in politics, sports, films, and other civic issues. Janardhan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication from SRM Arts and Science College and a PG Diploma in New Media from Asian College of Journalism, one of the top ranked journalism schools in India. He started his career with India Today group as a sub-editor as part of the sports team in 2016. He has also a wide experience as a script-writer having worked for short-films, pilot films as well as a radio jockey cum show producer while contributing for an online Tamil FM. As a multilingual journalist, he actively tracks the latest development in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry utiling his well-established networks to contribute significantly to breaking news stories. He has also worked as a sports analyst for Star Sports. ... Read More

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