Tamil writer Perumal Murugan’s photo appears in BJP’s slum outreach campaign posters

The Delhi BJP used the image of Tamil writer Perumal Murugan on a poster for the party’s slum outreach campaign, “Jhuggi Samman Yatra.” Perumal Murugan’s photo was shown among the group of people meant to represent slum dwellers

Several social media users flagged the appearance of Murugan’s photo on the BJP’s campaign posters, including one put up at the stage from where BJP president JP Nadda addressed the closing ceremony of the outreach programme.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the author’s photograph was used inadvertently.

“The design was provided to us by a vendor and the photo was inadvertently used. If this faux pas has hurt Shri Perumal Murugan’s sentiments, we apologise,” Kapoor said.

ALSO READ: Politician and a first-time novelist Smriti Zubin Irani on her book ‘Lal Salaam’

Perumal Murugan, the famed author of contemporary Tamil literature, has garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success for his vast array of work.

Murugan had gone into a self-imposed literary exile in 2014 after he was threatened by protests from Hindutva activists against his Tamil novel Madhorubagan (One Part Woman), which they deemed offensive.

Copies of Madhorubagan were burnt by Hindutva activists at Tiruchengode.

A dismayed Murugan had announced in a Facebook post in December 2014 that the writer in him was dead. He ended his literary exile in 2016 with a new book — a collection of 200 poems A Coward’s Song.

Following the Delhi BJP’s faux pas, Perumal Murugan said in a social media post that he was happy as he belonged to the slums. “I belong to the slums. Delighted!” he wrote on his Facebook page in Tamil and English.

(With inputs from PTI)

ALSO READ: Why Sidhu, Congress quiet on Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege in Pakistan: BJP’s Tarun Chugh