In a major faux pas, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (CMC) on Monday put out hoardings to announce the commemoration of the Martyrs’ Day programme at Martyr’s Pillar here with photographs of U.S. soldiers instead of Indian Army personnel.
The hoardings, which had been erected in several parts of the city, to announce the “Salute the Martyrs of the Nation” programme, had apparently been lifted from the internet. Moreover, a closer scrutiny revealed that the advertising agency had also flipped them in order to hide the US flag which was depicted on the shoulder of the three soldiers in the original picture.
Put up to announce the “wreath laying ceremony and honouring of the veer naris (war widows)” at the venue in Sector 33, Chandigarh, the hoardings had caught the attention of the residents who immediately noticed that the uniform and weapons of the three soldiers depicted therein – along side the images of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev – bore a stark resemblance to US personnel.
When the matter was brought to the notice of the municipal officials, they got the hoardings removed. But by then the matter had got widely circulated over the media and social media.
