When Modi turns ‘Lord Ram’ to fight against demonetisation

To celebrate the "success of demonetisation", the BJP in Jharkhand put up a hoarding showing PM Narendra Modi as Lord Ram.

Ranchi, Nov 9: We all know how much the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reveres the Hindu god Lord Ram. In fact, it was because of its fight to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh that the saffron party managed to grab power at the Centre back in the 1990s. The BJP's love affair with Lord Ram continues even in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's era.

On Wednesday, to mark the first anniversary of demonetisation, an over-enthusiastic BJP ended up putting up a hoarding of PM Modi showing him as Lord Ram fighting against "evils" confronting the country in Jharkhand.

According to The Indian Express, the hoarding showed Modi armed with a bow and arrows like Lord Ram.

"Four 'arrows', directed at a 10-headed demon, are labelled demonetisation, cases against corrupt, seizures of properties of corrupt and special courts for early conviction. The demon has 'kaala dhan' and 'bhrashtachar' mentioned on it," added The Indian Express.

After critics mocked the saffron party for comparing Modi with the Hindu deity, the Jharkhand unit of BJP officially distanced itself from the hoarding calling it an act of an overzealous party leader.

BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdev said, "There was nothing official about it (the hoarding). But we sincerely apologise that it got circulated in the media without approval at any level. We will get it checked, as to how it happened."

As the BJP is trying to distance itself from the latest controversy over "Ram", it is not for the first time that our politicians are being shown as gods and goddesses.

In fact, a grand temple worth Rs30 crore is going to be built in honour of Modi in Meerut district of UP. The temple would be built in the Sardhana area of Meerut where a 100-foot statue of Modi would be installed.

Even a temple in Mahbubnagar district of Telangana has been devoted to Congress president Sonia Gandhi where her idol was installed back in 2014. Often supporters of politicians try to associate their leaders with gods and goddesses to bring the angle of divinity in them.

The latest attempt by the BJP to compare Modi with Lord Ram has come at a time when the party is facing flak over demonetisation, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), rise in hike of prices of fuels and essential items and lack of jobs in the market, to name a few problems of the country.

On Wednesday when the Opposition held several protests across the country over demonetisation, the Modi government celebrated the day as "anti-black money day". The opposition 'mourned' the first anniversary of demonetisation as "black day".

OneIndia News