Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, the poster war has erupted between Congress and BJP with both the parties castigating each other’s leaders.
The poster war erupted after the Congress posted a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X with the caption "The Biggest Liar" and another calling him a "Jumla Boy" who was "going to hit the election rally soon".
In its reaction, BJP released Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's poster with several heads.
The move didn’t go well with the Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh who slammed the BJP over “smear” campaign against his party leader.
Taking strong offence to the BJP's move, Ramesh took to X and said the poster is intended to incite and provoke violence against the former Congress chief whose father and grandmother were assassinated by forces that want to divide India.
"What is the real intent of an atrocious graphic portraying Rahul Gandhi as Ravan by the BJP's official handle? It is clearly intended to incite and provoke violence against a Congress MP and a former President of the party, whose father and grandmother were assassinated by forces that want to divide India," he said in a post on X.
"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," Ramesh said.
“We will not be intimidated," he asserted.
On X, the BJP captioned the poster "Bharat Khatre Mein Hai - A Congress party production. Directed by George Soros".
"The new age Ravan is here. He is Evil. Anti Dharma. Anti Ram. His aim is to destroy Bharat," the BJP said on X.
Reacting to the poster, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said in a post in Hindi on X, "Most respected @narendramodi ji and shri @JPNadda ji, what level do you want to take politics and debate to? Do you agree with the violent and provocative tweets being posted from the official Twitter handle of your party?"
"Not much time has passed when you took a vow of uprightness. Have you forgotten the oaths taken just as the promises made?" she asked.
Echoing Ramesh and Priyanka, AICC general secretary, organisation, KC Venugopal also said, "No words are enough to condemn the shameful graphic on the BJP handle comparing Sh. Rahul Gandhi ji to Ravana."
"Their nefarious intentions are clear, they want to murder him. He, who lost his grandmother and father to assassinations. They withdrew his 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," he said.
"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 further said.
Congress holds protest against BJP
Congress held protests against the BJP for portraying Rahul Gandhi as a 'new age ravan' in a social media poster across the country.
In Rajasthan, Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, ministers Mahesh Joshi, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and other leaders took part in the protests near the PCC office.
Hitting out at the BJP, Dotasra said intellectuals across the state are agitated over what the BJP has done. "The BJP can touch any low to win an election. They should explain the context as to why they did this," he said during the protest.
He said Rahul Gandhi spreads the message of love and brotherhood but the BJP portrayed him as a 'ravan' which reflects the mindset of the BJP and its ideological fountainhead RSS.
"We all are ready to take on the BJP and the RSS. Rahul Gandhi says there is no need to be afraid. We will spread love and they will spread hatred. The nation is watching. The INDIA bloc will win and the NDA will face defeat in the Lok Sabha elections," he said.
In the Jammu and Kashmir Congress also held a protest against the BJP.
Led by former minister Yogesh Sawhney, scores of Congress workers took out a protest rally in Jammu city. They shouted slogans against the BJP and burnt its effigies.
"We condemn such acts of the BJP. The protest is to show our anger over the cheap act of BJP. We wanted to take a rally to the Raj Bhawan to hold protests there, but were prevented from doing so," Sawhney said.
"Rahul ji is our leader and we cannot tolerate such language against him," Sawhney said adding that he is the leader of this country.
"The people of this country like him. The BJP is afraid of the growing love of the people towards Rahul ji, that is why it is adopting such tactics," he said.
Congress' Srinagar district committee took out a protest from the party head office in Srinagar. The protesters tried to march towards the Lal Chowk city centre but were stopped by the police.
“We are protesting because the BJP government and the party made a poster about Rahul Gandhi. We feel that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are totally afraid of Rahul ji,” Shamim Raina, a Congress leader said.
She said people were moved by Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, after which they started opposing the BJP.
“Election surveys are showing Congress is ahead in many states. So they are now afraid of Rahul ji and that is why they made this poster. But Rahul ji is people's leader,” Raina added.
