TROUBLE OVER PRIYANKA’S AD TAGLINE FOR ASSAM TOURISM
GUWAHATI: Actor Priyanka Chopra on Tuesday ‘trended’ in the unlikeliest of places — the 126-member Assam assembly.
Assam Tourism had last year signed Chopra as its brand ambassador. A deal was accordingly signed with her firm Purple Pebble Pictures (PPP).
But her campaign for the ‘Awesome Assam’ campaign drew widespread criticism. The tagline, “Naturally Wild: Kyunki Yeh Assam Hai” rubbed many up the wrong way.
On Tuesday, the second day of the three-day special session of the assembly, opposition parties sought to know the details about the deal with Chopra.
Tourism minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the department signed a two-year contract with PPP but did not specify the fee to be paid to Chopra for the job. Sarma had last year, before the deal, said the actor would campaign “free of cost”.
The pressure on the government mounted after several political and social organisations, including the influential Assam Students’ Union, felt public money had been wasted on Chopra.
“The government has paid ₹2.37 crore to Purple Pebbles for the promotional project,” Sarma told the house.
He also said the department had spent ₹42 lakh on Chopra and her team’s visit to Guwahati in February. More publicity material, he added, would be finalised by May 15.
The deal with Chopra’s PPP was inked in December last year.
Gaurav Gogoi, one of Assam’s Congress MPs, tweeted: “Awesome Assam is not going to promote tourism. It's damaging our state's public image and brand.”