Police have taken down the posters and filed an FIR against an organisation called the Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena.
New Delhi: On the heels of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s defeat in the five assembly elections, a controversial poster made an appearance in Lucknow criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and propping up Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath as the next PM candidate.
On one side of the poster is an image of Modi with “Jumlebaazi ka naam Modi” written under it. The poster contends that Modi’s competition is “Hindutva ka brand Yogi.” It also makes an announcement for a “religious congregation” to be held on 10 February, 2019.
The poster was put up by the Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena near the Raj Bhawan in Lucknow, according to an FIR filed against the organisation.
“An FIR has been filed against Navnirman Sena,” said Kalanidhi Naithani, senior superintendent of police, Lucknow.
The organisation has been booked under Section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 505 (intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) of the Indian Penal Code.
“Yes we put up the posters because assembly election results have shown that if Yogi Adityanath had not campaigned, BJP wouldn’t have won a single seat,” Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena chief Amit Jani told ThePrint.
Jani claimed to have put up more than 50 posters.
The police, however, took down all the posters on orders of the government. The police didn’t mention the exact number of posters taken down.
“We got to know last night that posters had been put. Action was taken immediately, and the posters were removed,” said Naithani.
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Serial offender
This isn’t the first time the Navnirman Sena has made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
In September, Jani decided to give a 2019 Lok Sabha ticket to Rupendra Rana, an accused in the 2015 Dadri lynching case. Jani had earlier announced the same for Shambhulal Regar, accused of setting ablaze a Muslim labourer in Rajasthan’s Rajasamand.
Rana is likely to contest from Gautam Budh Nagar constituency in Noida, while Regar will contest from Agra.
In October 2017, Jani was arrested for posting an image of Taj Mahal with saffron flags on each of its minarets and pinnacle. He was sent for 14 days in judicial custody.
In May 2016, Jani was arrested for threatening to behead Jawaharlal Nehru University student leaders Kanhaiyya Kumar and Umar Khalid. He was suspected of planting a gun and a letter in a bus to behead the two.
The small outfit earlier found itself in the spotlight for vandalising Mayawati’s statue in 2012. Jani spent three months in jail for the same.
On Wednesday, Jani said, “The posters have been taken down today, but tomorrow they’ll be put up across the country.”
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A serial offender who openly says “The posters have been taken down today, but tomorrow they’ll be put up across the country.” Still he should not be tried on charges of sedition or branded as an anti national. If he is a serial offender he should be behind bars forever. Clearly for him its not a crime. What is he trying to prove and how does such a party talk about nationalism and Hinduism. Shame on low level of politics.
It is astonishing how hugely ambitious this “yogi” is. It is inconceivable that such posters would have come up without his knowledge, if not permission. In a way Adityanath is a perfect foil for Narendra Modi. Modi himself has displayed a humongous amount of ambition: from political zeroness to — if one has to judge from his penchant for being on the international stage all the time — the role of the fabled KALI-PURUSH of Hindu mythology! Holy cow! Who says Indian politics is not entertaining?
There is just one lesson.
The vote % of BJP is the same as before. The opposition came together under Cong+ and consolidated their votes and won. Now we have gone from the rape by Congress to a gang rape. Lets see what they can do for the states they have won, other than make comments and talk.