The upcoming election fever seems to have spread to festive occasions as well with politically tinged posters showing up in Dussehra posters in Bihar. In a non-flattering comment, posters with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the demon king Ravana and his former deputy and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav in the avatar of Lord Rama, have cropped up and triggered a controversy.
The posters, which were put up outside the state headquarters of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and some major thoroughfares in Patna, exhorts people to participate in large numbers in the upcoming phase of Tejashwi's "Samvidhan Bachao Nyaya Yatra" starting October 21. The posters have reportedly been the handiwork of Anand Yadav, a functionary of the party's disaster management unit. "Jab jab Ravana ne atyachaar kiya hai, tab tab ek Rama ne janm liya hai (Every time Ravana's has inflicted atrocities, a Rama has reincarnated)," the poster caption reads.
The RJD defended the posters saying it was not an official party poster and did not mean to insult Nitish but wanted to highlight the "failures of his government."
Tejashwi also claimed that he did not support such pictures, but took a jibe at the CM and said, "Nitishji should think why people are so angry with him (that he is portrayed as Ravana). What is the reason behind their anger? He should introspect and ask his antar-aatma (conscience) about what promises he has broken."
The poster, however, has drawn flak from the ruling as well as Opposition parties alike. Both the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Congress said it was in bad taste during the festive season. The JD-U said the RJD should first look into its "Jungleraj rule" before calling Nitish Ravana and added that people will decide who is Rama and who is Ravana in the coming polls.
Senior Congress leaders Madan Mohan Jha and Akhilesh Singh said Nitish was not just a politician, but also the CM of the state and hence such depictions were unwarranted.
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