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Madras high court pulls up Stalin govt after DMK, BJP spar over Chess Olympiad poster
Madras high court first bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice S Ananthi said considering the national interest and the directives of the Supreme Court in the case of common cause, “it should be ensured that even if dignitaries like the President or the PM accept the invitation for an international event or not, the advertisements should contain their photographs, since they represent the country at the international level”.
Amid a political slugfest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu over posters of the inauguration event of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the Madras high court on Thursday pulled up the state government for not carrying the photographs of both, President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in all its advertisements/promotional activities.
The run-up to the inauguration event on Wednesday saw the state BJP’s functionaries pasting Modi’s photos on promotional posters, which originally featured just chief minister MK Stalin, and “reminding” Stalin that he couldn’t have done this without the support of the union government. This saw retaliation from supporters of the DMK, who sprayed black paint on the posters featuring Modi.
Turning down the reasons offered by the state government for not carrying the photographs of the duo, the first bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice S Ananthi said considering the national interest and the directives of the Supreme Court in the case of common cause, “it should be ensured that even if dignitaries like the President or the PM accept the invitation for an international event or not, the advertisements should contain their photographs, since they represent the country at the international level”.
The bench was disposing of an urgent PIL moved by R Rajesh Kumar of Madurai seeking to declare the use of the photograph of Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin alone in all the advertisement/promotion of the 44th Chess Olympiad scheduled to be held at Mamallapuram from July 28 to August 10 as illegal, arbitrary and in violation of the directions issued by the apex court in several cases.
“When our country is hosting such an international event, it is the bounden duty of one and all to ensure such a function is organised efficiently, and we leave an indelible mark at the international level. It is more so when our country is known for its hospitality and efficiency. Thus, the image of the nation should be of foremost concern to everyone and such representation would be under the aegis of the President and Prime Minister of India, apart from the Chief Minister of the State, where the tournament is hosted,” the judges said.
Prime Minister Modi declared open the FIDE 44th Chess Olympiad here on Thursday.
Encouraging the players, Modi said that in sports there are no losers, but winners and future winners. “Sports is beautiful because it has inherent power to unite. Sports brings people and societies closer. Sports nurture a spirit of teamwork,” he said.
