Tamil Nadu minister admits to ‘a small mistake’ in ISRO facility ad

Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister Anitha Radhakrishnan on Thursday admitted that his government made “a small mistake” a day after PM Modi pointed out that an advertisement released in newspapers for a new ISRO facility in Tamil Nadu carried the image of a Chinese flag.

“A small mistake has been made in the newspaper advertisement given by us regarding the setting up of a rocket launch pad in the Kulasekarapatnam area,” the minister told ANI on Thursday (February 29). “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.”

On Wednesday (February 28), the prime minister while speaking at a meeting in Tirunelveli said the DMK government pasted China’s sticker to take “false credit” for ISRO’s facility in Tamil Nadu. He said the TN government had insulted India’s scientists and space sector with the advertisement. Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai said the advertisement showed DMK’s “commitment to China”.

Responding to the attack, DMK MP Kanimozhi said on Wednesday (February 28) that India had not declared China an enemy country and that PM Modi himself had invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to India, and they had gone to Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu.

Kanimozhi said, “Just because you do not want to accept the truth, you are finding reasons to divert the issue.”