February 20, 2017
A day after the opposition Congress legislators in the
Assam legislative Assembly demanded removal of actress Priyanka Chopra as the
brand ambassador of Assam tourism, State Tourism Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
came to her rescue and said that a section of the Congress legislators are
trying to get cheap publicity out of the issue.
Congress legislators
including Nandita Das and Rupjyoti Kurmi recently raised objections during the
ongoing session of the Assam legislative assembly to a photograph of the
Bollywood star in 'minimal clothes' as featured in a calendar of the Assam
Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) and demanded that she be removed as the
brand ambassador of Assam tourism.
The Congress legislators also showed a
copy of the ATDC calendar where Priyanka was seen wearing a frock and not the
traditional dress of Assam - Mekhela chador.
"A section of Congress
legislators in Assam are trying to get cheap publicity out of the issue. When we
receive felicitation in some stage do we go wearing dhoti, the traditional dress
of Assam or wearing pants and shirts? If someone comes to Assam from abroad will
he be felicitated after wearing dhoti?," said Sarma while answering a journalist
outside the House on Tuesday.
Congress leader and Assam's Leader of
Opposition Debabrata Saikia said that it would have been better if the brand
ambassador had worn Assam's traditional dress during the photo-shoot for the
calendar of ATDC.
"I think that (wearing an Assamese traditional dress)
would have been appropriate for the actor to promote the culture and tradition
of Assam," he said.
Saikia, however, said that the government should
rather concentrate on improving the tourism infrastructure in Assam rather than
spending funds on appointing brand ambassadors.
"The tourism
infrastructure has been improved in past several years but it needs to improve
further and government should concentrate on that," he added.
Saikia said
the appointment of Priyanka as brand ambassador had failed to increase the
tourist inflow to the state - be it domestic or foreign.
"The data placed
in the House today revealed that while 28,419 foreign tourists visited the state
during 2016-16, only 9,421 foreign tourists had visited the state in the current
fiscal (till October 2018)," said Saikia.
Priyanka, who was appointed by
the Assam government as the brand ambassador of the Assam Tourism Development
Corporation in 2016, has drawn severe criticism as the film star remained silent
even as the worst ever floods hit the state last year.
The "Quantico"
star was also in a controversy last year for referring to Sikkim as an
insurgency hit state while the fact remains that Sikkim is the most peaceful
state in the northeast region.