Bihar polls: Indian CM falsely accused of advertising in Pakistan daily

Union minister tweets suggesting Nitish Kumar used the advertisement to woo voters; gets trolled himself

As polling in the Indian province of Bihar intensifies, government and opposition parties are seeking to out-do each other in campaigning.

And the process hasn’t been without controversy. A day after BJP chief Amit Shah said firecrackers would burst in Pakistan if his party lost elections in Bihar, Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy called out Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for advertising on daily Dawn's website.



PHOTO: THE HUFFINGTON POST

“Nitish advertises in Pakistan daily e-edition to woo voters in Bihar. Why Pak? Whom does he want to reach?”

Taking a screenshot of online edition of the webpage, Rudy accused Kumar of “paying to publish such advertisement”.

However, what Rudy didn’t realize was that Google ads are placed on any website based on the location of a reader and browsing history.



The minister then had no choice but to delete his own tweet.

Dear @SushilModi, please delete this tweet. Online ads are based on your geographical location and browsing history. Nothing to do with Pak

— नम्रता (@_Namrataa) October 30, 2015

@Rohinisgh They will delete Tweets but this will make news tomorrow in Bihar.
Nitish has been to Pakistan ;) @binun83 @bhak_sala

— Mihir Jha (@MihirkJha) October 30, 2015

The article first appeared on The Huffington Post