NEW DELHI: The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress on Thursday got engaged in a “poster war” on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi being portrayed in sarcastic lights.
In a poster on X, the BJP depicted Gandhi as a “new age Ravan”, triggering strong criticism from Congress that called it totally “unacceptable” and “downright dangerous”.
The BJP’s poster came against the backdrop of Congress posting a picture of Modi with the caption “The Biggest Liar” and another calling him a “Jumla Boy”, who was “Going to hit the election rally soon”.
Responding to the Congress’ poster, the BJP shared a photoshopped picture of Rahul Gandhi with several heads and captioned it as “Bharat Khatre Mein Hai (India under threat) — A Congress party production. Directed by George Soros”. Referring to Gandhi, it said, “The new age Ravan is here. He is Evil. Anti-Dharma. Anti-Ram. His aim is to destroy Bharat”.
The heated argument between the two parties intensified when Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh alleged that BJP’s portrayal of Gandhi was intended to incite and provoke violence against the former Congress chief whose father and grandmother were assassinated by forces that wanted to divide India.
“What is the real intent of an atrocious graphic portraying Rahul Gandhi as Ravan by the BJP’s official handle?”Ramesh posted on his X handle. “It is one thing for the PM to give evidence daily of being a pathological liar and of suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder. But for him to get his party to produce something this obnoxious is not just completely unacceptable but is downright dangerous,” he said.
Ramesh later posted on X a cartoon showing Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru among ten heads of Ravan and showed Savarkar and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee as Ram and Laxman, aiming at them with a bow and arrow. “This cartoon was published in 1945 in a leading magazine, whose editor was Nathuram Godse. Gandhi and Congress have always been their target,” Ramesh said on X.
AICC general secretary (organisation), K C Venugopal alleged, “They withdrew his [Rahul’s] SPG protection to score petty political points. After evicting him from his secure residence, they haven’t allocated another house that he has requested for”. “All this points to a well-planned conspiracy of the BJP to eliminate their fiercest critic, someone who attacks the very core of their hate-filled ideology,” Venugopal alleged.
Meanwhile, Indian Youth Congress president Srinivas B V uploaded another poster portraying Modi as a “MODANAV”. “The new age MODANAV is here. He is Evil. Anti Democracy. Anti Constitution. Anti People. Anti Humanity. His only aim is to destroy Bharat and the idea of INDIA,” it said.
As the battle lines between the two main parties are getting drawn in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, their leaders have intensified attacks against each other.