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Hoardings showing Mayawati as Goddess Kali spark furore

Lucknow, April 25

Posters and hoardings of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati in the form of Hindu goddess Kali and holding the chopped off head of union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani have surfaced in Hathras, leading to a political furore.

The hoardings put up by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers show Mayawati holding the chopped head of Irani in one hand with blood dripping from it.

Mayawati is also shown standing over the body of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat. 

The BSP chief is shown adorned with a garland of skulls, as the Goddess Kali is portrayed. Prime minister Narendra Modi is shown begging for forgiveness and assuring that the job reservations for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes would not be scrapped.

Two BSP workers, Shilpi and Kardam, have put up the hoardings. 

The reference apparently is to the statement of the RSS chief last year that time has come to rethink on continuation of the job quota. The union government had clarified that there was no such move. 

BJP state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said his party has taken serious offence to the posters, and that such "sacrilege was being committed".

"The BSP in the past has ridiculed Hindu gods and deities so it is not very surprising. But what is very worrying is the fact that through such inflammatory acts, the BSP is trying to trigger casteist clashes," Pathak said. He also appealed to the district administration to act against the people who have put up these hoardings.