PM Modi made Incredible India mascot
What's the story
The Indian tourism ministry has finally decided their new mascot for the Incredible India advertising campaign, and it's none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The position had been vacant since Aamir Khan was ousted from it earlier this year.
The ministry also announced that no Bollywood actor would be involved.
The new campaign is set to be released 40-45 days from now.
Do you know?
Aamir Khan's fling with Incredible India
After several years of association with Incredible India, Aamir Khan was ousted from the position of mascot in January 2016, supposedly for his remarks on intolerance in India. The tourism ministry, however, said that his contract with the ad agency had expired.
Selection
So what happened to Bollywood actors?
Tourism minister Mahesh Sharma had earlier endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the "best face" for the Incredible India campaign.
Sharma's endorsement of PM Modi followed his own assertion that the tourist influx had increased from countries PM Modi had visited.
As a result, Sharma concluded that PM Modi would be a more suitable candidate than Bollywood actors or actresses.
Quote
Why Narendra Modi?
"The perception about India has changed significantly in the last two years with Prime Minister Modi visiting a host of countries during the period. So, who else could be the better face for Indian tourism than our Prime Minister," said tourism minister Mahesh Sharma.
Incredible India
What will the new Incredible India ads show?
The Incredible India ad campaign is mostly aimed at attracting foreign tourists to India.
Video footage of Narendra Modi over the last two-and-half years will be used for the campaign, according to sources.
There would be two different types of videos of different durations which will show Narendra Modi talking about the diversity and uniqueness of India.
The videos are still being selected.