NEW DELHI, Aug 20: An advertisement for Swiss chocolate featuring Kashmir on the map of India has attracted the wrath of Hindu nationalists, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

The advertisement, published to coincide with India’s independence day by the Cadbury group for its Temptations brand, depicts Kashmir along with a riddle: “I’m good. I’m tempting. I’m too good to share. What am I? Cadbury’s Temptations or Kashmir?”

But what raised the hackles of politicians in Mumbai belonging to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s BJP was the advertisement’s punchline: “Too good to share” written in bold across the shaded area highlighting Kashmir on the map.

The message was quite clear — that like Cadbury’s Temptations brand, “Kashmir too can’t be shared.”

“In the first place, how can you use India’s map for commercial gain?” asked Vinod Tawde, who heads the BJP’s Mumbai chapter.

“Kashmir is a very sensitive issue and thousands of (Indian) soldiers have sacrificed their lives for it,” Tawde was quoted as saying in the Pioneer newspaper.

“Such ads just trivialize the issue ... How can an ad campaign, in the name of creativity, even imply that Kashmir is a state to be shared?” the BJP leader asked, threatening national protests.

Cadbury apologized for the advertisement.

“The press advertisement for Cadbury Temptations ... was issued entirely in good faith, with no intention whatsoever to offend the sentiments of the public,” a company statement said.

“We offer our sincere apologies to any section of the public that may have been offended by this advertisement,” the statement added. —AFP