Tamil Nadu BJP’s Birthday Wish For MK Stalin In Mandarin After China Flag On Indian Rocket Ad Row

A day after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government sparked a row by using a photograph of a Chinese rocket in an advertisement for a new Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facility, the Tamil Nadu unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wished Chief Minister MK Stalin on his birthday in his ‘favourite language’ Mandarin.

The Tamil Nadu BJP took to microblogging site X (formerly Twitter), wishing Stalin in Mandarin. It wrote, “On behalf of @BJP4Tamilnadu, here’s wishing our Honourable CM Thiru @mkstalin avargal a happy birthday in his favourite language! May he live a long & healthy life!”

The Tamil Nadu BJP said, “As DMK wanted to use the Chinese flag and rocket in ads, we wished the CM in their favourite language from their favourite country. If it was a mistake, they could have apologised but their leader Kanimozhi defended the ad.”

The X post came soon after the Tamil Nadu government admitted its ‘small mistake’ pointed out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Tamil Nadu Fishermen’s Welfare and Fisheries Minister Anitha Radhakrishnan said, “A small mistake has been made in the newspaper advertisement given by us regarding the setting up of rocket launch pad in Kulasekarapatnam area.”

“The image of the Chinese flag in the advertisement welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a mistake by those who designed the advertisement, which went unnoticed by us,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, on Wednesday, pointed out the goof-up while inaugurating a new ISRO facility in the southern state. Prime Minister Modi said, “DMK is a party that does not work but stands ahead to take false credit. These people paste their stickers on our schemes. Now they have crossed the limits, they have pasted China’s sticker to take credit for the ISRO launch pad in Tamil Nadu.”