BCCI's Amitabh Choudhary objects to role in cricket body for woman who 'slut-shamed' Deepika Padukone

Board Of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary has written to the CEO of the board, Rahul Johri, strongly objecting to the appointment of Priya Gupta as the board's general manager (marketing).

In the email, which was also copied to the Committee of Adinistrators (CoA) and other BCCI officials, Choudhary cited Gupta's unfavourable comments on actress Deepika Padukone for objecting to her BCCI appointment, reported The Indian Express. The article in question was written in 2014 for a leading daily. Choudhary, in fact, also mentioned a seconds article that described Gupta's view of Padukone as "slut-shaming".

File photo of BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary. AFP

The BCCI acting secretary also questioned the board's selection process, in which recruitment firm Korn Ferry was also involved.

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“A simple search on the internet, revealed the following stories mentioning the candidate selected for the post we are presently concerned with, regarding an article that the person authored, the content of which is for everyone to see,” Choudhary wrote.

The issue relates to a controversy a few years back when The Times of India tweeted a video of Padukone with the caption, "“OMG! Deepika Padukone’s cleavage show”. The actress took umbrage and shot back, "YES! I am a Woman. I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!??”

That is when Gupta, who used to work for The Times of India at that time decided to defend the daily. In her piece, “Dear Deepika, our point of view...”, she wrote: “Deepika, just for the record, we do not zoom into a woman’s vagina or show her nipples... What about all the times, and there have been many, when you have flaunted your body off screen — while dancing on stage, posing for magazine covers, or doing photo ops at movie promotional functions? What ‘role’ do you play there? So why the hypocrisy?”

When asked by The Express, Gupta, however, chose not to comment, saying that she didn't have clue about the controversy that is now brewing up.

Korn Ferry says Gupta has played a "successful part in making Bollywood engaging" and that she would be doing that with BCCI and cricket too if she was given a chance. Gupta has been offered Rs 1.65 crore annually for the BCCI job.

On employing Korn Ferry, Choudhary revealed that the decision was taken after her exit from the meeting, though the protocol is for the acting secretary to sign on appointment letters.