Govt indulging in 'surrogate advertising' through Khadi India: CPI to EC

The CPI wrote to the Election Commission on Tuesday alleging that the government is indulging in "surrogate advertising" through institutions like Khadi India.

Modi replaced Mahatma Gandhi as the face of Khadi India in 2017.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) also alleged that the brand selling khadi jackets as 'Modi jackets' amounted to promotion of the prime minister.

"This is to bring to your attention that government is indulging in surrogate advertising through various government institutions like Khadi India," CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said in the letter.

"A display board is put up at Khadi India retail shop at Connaught Place. There is a photograph of PM Modi in Khadi India, which was put up along with 'Rashtrapati' (president's) photo. This should be removed. This type of Modi advertising using public money is unacceptable and should be immediately stopped," he said.

The letter suggested that as a deterrent, the EC should recover the cost of all this advertising from the ruling BJP and ensure that it is calculated in Modi's candidate expenditure limit.