Priyanka Chopra's campaign for Assam tourism invites ire of political parties

Actress Priyanka Chopra is shooting for her television series, Quantico, far away from India, but her presence seems to have riled up some citizens of the state of Assam.

The actress is an ambassador for the state of Assam, and was a part of a recent tourism campaign. However, the campaign seems to have irked a few members of the state's Congress party who have demanded her removal from the position for her 'minimal clothes' in the advertisement, which they say has sullied the image of the state. 

The daily, Guwahati Plus, reported that Congress members, viz, Rupjyoti Kurmi, MLA from Mariani, Roseline Tirkey, MLA from Sarupathar, and Nandita Das, MLA from Boko, have jointly demanded to remove the actress from the role of brand ambassador of Assam tourism.

Another website, Time8, quoted Kurmi saying, "The government should preserve the respect of the Assamese society. Frock is not an Assamese attire and the calendar pictures were not sober at all. The government should have known how to preserve the prestige of the Assamese society, instead they could have used the traditional mekhela chador. This is the reason we have protested against the calendar." 

However, the Assam Tourism Development Board has rejected these charges. Jayant Mallah Baruah, chairman of Assam Tourism Development Corporation suggested that the advertisement was targeted at an 'international market' and had nothing objectionable in them. Reports quote Baruah saying, "Priyanka Chopra is an international figure and her presentation in the calendar has not diminished Assam's culture in any way." 

The actress was at the centre of another controversy last year, when during the promotion of her Sikkimese film, Pahuna, she referred to Sikkim as a state suffering from terrorism issues. The actress later retracted her statement and tendered an apology for it.