Posters of Akhilesh, Mulayam in skull caps spark SP-BJP war of words

Posters surfacing across Uttar Pradesh depicting Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and party founder, the late Mulayam Singh, wearing skull caps sparked a war of words between the principal opposition party and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While the SP alleged that it was a bid by the BJP to divert attention from the Ram Temple donation ‘theft’ issue, the latter hit back calling the posters – that bore slogans such as ‘Dil mein Babar, munh mein Ram (Babar in the heart, Ram on the lips)’ – an expression of “people’s frustration” against the Opposition party’s “divisive politics”.

SP workers promptly removed the posters at Kanshiram Colony in Sitapur and other places, with, party MP Anand Bhadauria leading from the front in Dhaurahra. “Once again, indecent hoardings were put up against the party and the leadership. We clearly believe that this cowardly act is being carried out by the Information Department of Uttar Pradesh at the behest of the BJP government,” he said. In Mathura, the police registered a case in connection with the posters.

Sunil Singh Yadav ‘Sajan’, the SP spokesperson, said such actions were an attempt to divert attention from core issues concerning the common people such as corruption, unemployment, nepotism and crony capitalism. “The BJP government, which is facing broader questioning and has lost credibility in the eyes of people in view of the Ram Temple corruption episode, is frustrated. In coming days, more such acts will be carried out with the support of the administration,” he claimed.

The Congress accused the BJP of trying to communalise the environment before next year’s Assembly election. “The real objective is to divert attention from the Ram Temple embezzlement case,” said Shahnawaz Alam, Congress national secretary.

Dinesh Dubey, a Lucknow-based BJP leader, said “the memory of appeasement politics” practised by the SP [while in power] is still fresh in people’s minds. “We have nothing to do with such acts, it’s common people who are doing it,” he said.