DMK leader and minister for fisheries and animal husbandry Anitha R Radhakrishnan on Wednesday rolled out an advertisement in the Tamil newspapers which has an image of a rocket with a Chinese flag on its nose cone.

The advertisement was purportedly published as Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) second spaceport for small satellite launches in Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district.

Anitha Radhakrishnan, representing Tiruchendur constituency where the new launch complex will come up, rolled out an advertisement in local Tamil papers about the inauguration event.

The advertisement carrying pictures of both PM Modi and Chief Minister MK Stalin has an image of rockets in the backdrop. The ad kicked off a controversy as the nose cone of one of the rockets had a Chinese flag on it.

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Taking a jibe at the DMK for using Chinese flag in the ad and taking “false credit, PM Modi said, “DMK is such a party which doesn’t do any work but goes ahead to take false credit. Who doesn’t know that these people put their stickers on our schemes? Now they have crossed the limit, they have pasted stickers of China to take credit for the ISRO launch pad in Tamil Nadu…

“They are not ready to see the progress of India’s space and with the taxes that you pay, they give advertisements and do not even include a picture of India’s space in it. They did not want to share India’s space success in front of the world, they insulted our scientists, our space sector, your tax money… Now the time has come to punish the DMK,” PM Modi said while addressing a rally in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu.

Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai pointed out the Chinese flag and said the party “has been desperate to paste stickers ever since the announcement of ISRO’s second launch pad in Kulasekarapatinam was released…”

He took to X and wrote, “This advertisement by DMK Minister Anita Radhakrishnan to leading Tamil dailies today is a manifestation of DMK’s commitment to China & their total disregard for our country’s sovereignty. DMK, a party flying high on corruption, has been desperate to paste stickers ever since the announcement of ISRO’s second launch pad in Kulasekarapatinam was released…”