Guwahati, March 4: An online advertisement featuring Priyanka Chopra, the brand ambassador of Assam Tourism, and the tagline, Naturally wild: Kyunki ye Assam hai, has faced flak on social media.
Many said the tagline showed Assam in a poor light and lacked originality.
"I don't quite like the tagline. People in the rest of India already think this region is one of the most backward states. Now they think the whole of Assam is a jungle. Promote our Kaziranga and Manas national parks. But you don't have to say the whole of Assam is a jungle," Jyoti Kashmiri, a fashion designer who hails from Assam, posted on Facebook.
"This happens when you ignore talent. Crores spent on MS Paint and poor copywriting. Sad," said a post written by Somdeb Roy.
A senior official of the tourism department, when contacted, said, "The department did not prepare the advertisement."
Boycott appeal
Survival International, an organisation working for the rights of indigenous people across the world, has issued an appeal to boycott Kaziranga following the BBC documentary, One World: Killing for Conservation, highlighting the alleged shoot-at-sight orders in the national park, a day after some residents of the park's fringe areas alleged torture in the name of conservation.
In the report published on its website, the organisation said: "Fifty people have been extra-judicially executed by park guards in the last three years at India's infamous 'shoot-on-sight' national park. Innocent tribal people face being shot, beaten, tortured and killed at the hands of heavily armed park officials. Last year, guards shot a 7-year-old tribal boy. Akash spent five months in hospital and is now maimed for life. All this is being done in the name of conservation. Kaziranga National Park promotes extra-judicial executions by encouraging guards to 'kill the unwanted'. There are plans to introduce this policy in tiger reserves across India. Tribal people are already being beaten and harassed into leaving their forest homes. Arming the guards would result in even more violence against India's tribes. But targeting tribal people diverts action away from tackling the true poachers - criminals conspiring with corrupt officials. Targeting tribal people harms conservation."
Akash had yesterday narrated his story as a victim of conservation before the media.
After the appeal by Survival International, many international tourism agencies, according to television reports, supported the boycott appeal.
Reacting to the development, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, "This type of appeal cannot stop international tourists from visiting Kaziranga. Kaziranga is an asset of the nation."
Forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma also opposed the organisation's appeal.
According to the Centre, the BBC documentary construed the immunity provided to forest officials under Section 197 of CrPC as a "shoot to kill" policy.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has banned the BBC from filming in any of the tiger reserves for five years for portraying the conservation policies in poor light.
