NEW
DELHI, August 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An advertisement
for Swiss chocolate featuring the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir
on the map of India, with the punchline: "Too good to share",
has attracted the wrath of hardline Hindu nationalists, a report said
Tuesday, August 20.
The
advertisement, published to coincide with India's Independence Day by
Cadbury India Limited for its Temptations brand, depicts Kashmir along
with a riddle: "I'm good. I'm tempting. I'm too good to share. What
am I? Cadbury's Temptations or Kashmir?"
The
advertisement’s punchline: "Too good to share", written in
bold across the shaded area highlighting Kashmir on the map, raised the
hackles of politicians in Bombay belonging to Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee's hardline Hindu nationalist BJP party, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported.
The
message was quite clear - that like Cadbury's Temptations brand,
"Kashmir too can't be shared."
"In
the first place, how can you use India's map for commercial gain?"
asked Vinod Tawde, who heads the BJP's Bombay chapter.
"Kashmir
is a very sensitive issue and thousands… have sacrificed their lives
for it," Tawde was quoted as saying in the Pioneer newspaper.
India
has cracked down on an independence war led by Muslim fighters against
Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989 - a turmoil that has cost Kashmir
70,000 lives.
"Such
ads just trivialize the issue ... How can an ad campaign, in the name of
creativity, even imply that Kashmir is a state to be shared?" the
BJP leader asked, threatening national protests.
But
the people of Muslim-majority Kashmir have voiced their will to gain
independence from India or become part of Pakistan. India insists,
however, the Himalayan state is an indivisible part of its territory.
Kashmir,
the cause of two of the three wars between India and Pakistan since
their independence from British rule in 1947, is divided between the two
countries and claimed by both.
Cadbury
India Limited apologized for the advertisement.
"The
press advertisement for Cadbury Temptations... was issued entirely in
good faith, with no intention whatsoever to offend the sentiments of the
public," a company statement said.
"We
offer our sincere apologies to any section of the public that may have
been offended by this advertisement," the statement added.
Cadbury
India Limited is part of the Cadbury Schweppes group and is India's
leading confectionery manufacturer
