Days after a controversial poster depicting UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya as Lord Krishna triggered a political row, another one showing former CM Mayawati as Goddess Kali came up in Hathras on Sunday.
Mayawati is shown holding the chopped head of Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani in one hand, standing over the body of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is shown begging for forgiveness and assuring that job reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would not be scrapped. It apparently referred to a statement made by Bhagwat last year that there should be a rethink on the continuation of quotas in jobs. Later, the government clarified there was no such move.
The poster surfaced at an Ambedkar ‘shobha yatra’ and was removed by police soon after BJP workers expressed their furore.
“The poster depicts the mental bankruptcy of BSP chief Mayawati. Our workers showed admirable restraint despite provocation,” said UP BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak.
“You will see ‘bua-bhateeja’ posters soon,” said a BJP worker, referring to Mayawati and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as aunt and nephew.
A few days ago, ahead of Maurya’s visit to Varanasi, a poster showing him as Krishna, with the ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ in one hand, went viral on social media on Ram Navami. It also displayed leaders including Mayawati, Akhilesh, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, UP minister Azam Khan, and AIMM MP Asaduddin Owaisi indulging in UP ‘chirharan’ (stripping).
