Somewhere around December 14 last year, an unusual and weird poster went viral on social media. This was not one of those Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary posters that usually catch the attention of people on Facebook, but rather something political with comedy and a certain kind of satire attached to it.
The poster showed Congress President Rahul Gandhi as Lord Rama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Ravana. The poster appeared at the Gauriganj Railway Station in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi district. Rahul Gandhi is, in fact, the Member of Parliament (MP) from Amethi which has been and is the pocket borough constituency of the Congress Party.
In the poster Rahul was seen carrying a bow and an arrow, pointing towards Prime Minister Modi. The message on the poster stated Rahul an incarnation of Lord Ram who will bring ‘Ram Rajya’ in 2019 by winning the General election and defeating ‘Ravana’ Prime Minister Modi. “Rahul ke roop mein bhagwan Ram ka Avtaar 2019 mein aayega Rahulraj (Ramrajya)” read the wording on the poster.
Now, an FIR has been lodged against Congress leader Rama Shankar Shukla and it’s lodged by BJP leader Surya Prakash Tiwari. Interestingly, the name displayed on the poster is of a local, Abhay Shukla, who claims no relation with the Congress party.
Even the district Congress party has denied putting up the poster or of any relation with Abhay Shukla.
As reported by DNA, Shukla said, “Prime Minister Modi promised us to bring black money back that is stashed abroad, but nothing happened. All the promises made by him were lies. We believe that in 2019, Rahul Gandhi will become the Prime Minister of the county and fulfill all the promises.”
Along with the FIR, BJP has also asked for an apology from Rahul Gandhi, for the poster that “denigrated” PM Modi. However, in the midst of all this, there’s a question that just needs to be out there. How come a leader from any particular political party can be blamed for something like this? In a situation, where it’s pretty obvious that no one from both the parties can be confounded for being the real culprit.
What do you think about this?
Jyotsna Amla