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Journalism of Courage
Within 48 hours of offering himself as the brand ambassador of Uttar Pradesh, the Big B has been caught in a war of words between the ruling Samajwadi Party and Opposition parties in the state.
‘‘He was an unofficial brand ambassador for the SP so far and had been drawing crowds for the party, and now he will be the official brand ambassador of the state. Our state is not a commodity like Reid & Taylor, Parker and Maruti Versa of which he is the brand ambassador but a live one,’’ said BJP spokesman Hriday Nath Dixit.
‘‘A man with the personality and stature like Amitabh can become the brand ambassador for the country and we are grateful that he himself has offered to assume such a role for our state to pull it out of the financial mess which has grappled the state for a long time,’’ reacted Amar Singh, the SP general secretary. Singh is also chairman of the UP Vikas Parishad, which has Amitabh as a member, that had its first meeting in Lucknow on Sunday. The meeting saw industrialists Anil Ambani, Adi Godrej, Subroto Roy and M.S. Banga (Hindustan Lever), discussing how the state could be put back on the development track.
‘‘The assemblage of who’s who of the corporate sector at one platform in itself is indicative of the things in store for the state. These are the persons to meet whom the governments along with its officers come and today they are sitting here for hours to ponder on how the state could be developed,’’ Singh had said at a press conference on Sunday.
The Nationalist Congress Party has objected to Bachchan’s appointment as UP’s brand ambassador saying that this was actually a ploy to make the Big B campaign for the SP in the Lok Sabha elections. In a statement on Tuesday, NCP leader Jagannath Misra said the constitution of the UP Vikas Parishad, under the Amar Singh’s chairmanship, had raised several questions.
‘‘The UP government should immediately announce its development policy so that we can be assured that the people’s interests will not be sacrificed for the benefit of a handful of industrialists. The people of the state have the right to know that their money is not being misused to safeguard the interests of a group of tycoons,’’ he said.
