Annapoorna Hotel says, ‘Want to put assumptions, misunderstanding to rest... and move on’, after viral apology video

The popular Tamil Nadu chain, the Sri Annapoorna Hotel, issued a statement on September 14, to “put to rest unnecessary assumptions and political misunderstandings”, as per a PTI report.

This came after a video showing the hotel's owner, D Srinivasan, apologising to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for his comments on the goods and services tax (GST) went viral on social media and attracted engagement from netizens and opposition leaders.

The report added that the Coimbatore-based hotel “would like to end this episode and move on”.

Notably, Srinivasan is also the honourary president of the Tamilnadu Hotel Association and vice-president of the South Indian Hotels and Restaurants Association.

Annapoorna Hotel's Statement

The statement noted that during an interaction between representatives from MSMEs and the Chamber of Commerce in Coimbatore and Sitharaman on September 11, its managing director D Srinivasan, raised the issue of different GST rates for different products in restaurants and bakeries.

“Since the news clippings and videos of the interaction went viral, the following day, he met the finance minister privately under his own volition to ensure there was no misunderstanding or misrepresentation of facts. The video of this private meeting was inadvertently shared on social media, which caused a lot of misunderstanding and confusion,” the statement said.

The hotel thanked Sitharaman and MLA Vanathi Srinivasan for organising the GST meeting so that trade bodies and organisations could share their views. And said, “With this, we would like to put to rest unnecessary assumptions and political misunderstanding. We hope everybody understands that we would like to end this episode and move on,” it said.

The hotel also thanked its loyal customers and general public, “who have been a great source of support and inspiration”.

Tamil Nadu BJP Responds

The Tamil Nadu BJP has also apologised for “mistakenly” sharing the clip and said that action has been taken against the maker of the video, as per the report.

In a post on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), K Annamalai, State President of the Tamil Nadu BJP apologised for the “actions of our functionaries who shared a private conversation between a respected business owner and our Hon. FM”.

“I spoke with Thiru Srinivasan Avl, the esteemed owner of the Annapoorna chain of Restaurants, to express regret for this unintended breach of privacy. Annapoorna Srinivasan Anna is a pillar of Tamil Nadu’s business community, contributing significantly to the state’s and nation’s economic growth. I request everyone to lay the matter to rest with due respect,” he added.

The Controversy: What Happened

A controversy erupted after BJP's Tamil Nadu unit tweeted a video of Srinivasan “apologising” to Sitharaman after he publicly highlighted challenges faced by business owners due to varying GST rates. The video sparked outrage from the Opposition, which accused the BJP of “forcing” the businessman to apologise to Sitharaman.

“There is 5 per cent GST on sweets but 12 per cent on savouries. There is an 18 per cent GST on cream-filled buns, whereas there is no GST on buns. Customers often complain, saying, ‘Just give me the bun, I will add the cream and jam myself’,” Srinivasan said during a meeting with business owners and Sitharaman in Coimbatore, prompting laughter from the audience and the finance minister.

Sitharaman listened and assured him the issues would be looked into.

Criticising this, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said while PM Narendra Modi rolled out a red carpet to demands of his “billionaire friend”, a restaurant owner's request was met with “arrogance and outright disrespect”.

(With inputs from PTI)