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| Congress Orders Probe into Sonia Poster as Durga | | |
Jammu June 22
The Congress Thursday took strong exception to a poster showing party president Sonia Gandhi as goddess Durga in the party office in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, and has ordered an inquiry.
First, it was the controversial calendar depicting that rocked the Rajasthan where party workers portrayed CM Vasundhararaje Scindia as a ‘devi’, then UP Chief Minister Mayawati’s admirers recently have come up with a ‘Maya Chaleesa’, a ‘Maya Stuti’ and even a ‘Maya Puran’, and now the staunch congressman bestowed UPA chairperson a divine eminence.
However the Congress quickly acted to the issue and ordered an enquiry and seniors claimed that they would expel those involved in it.
Moradabad district party president A.S. Soni had said the 'work of art' was created by a painter who hung the 'sample piece' on a wall in the party office during the recent assembly elections and asked party workers to contact him for more such paintings, if required. 'There is no objection to it since it is a work of art,' Soni said when asked why it was still there.
However, former MP and veteran Congress leader Hafiz Siddique did not buy Soni's argument. 'This picture is objectionable as we cannot accept Sonia Gandhi in such a portrayal. In fact nobody can accept such things as the Congress party is a secular organisation and we are condemning this,' he said.
He also said he was surprised by the episode, which was happening for the first time in the party. City president of the party, Asad Moulaei, echoed a similar view and condemned the portrayal of the leader as a Hindu goddess.
Former MP and once in-charge of party affairs here, Pawan Ghatwar, termed the portrayal as unfortunate. 'No politicians must be portrayed as gods,' he said.
Interestingly, Sonia’s divine portrayal in a way seems to complete a triumvirate of the ‘teen deviyan’.
The Goddess’s eight arms in the impugned poster are labelled after the party’s frontal organisations, like Youth Congress, Mahila Congress, Sewa Dal and so on. Sonia wears a tiara labelled “dharma nirmaan” - an indicator of the party’s ‘soft’ Hindutva, side maybe? The ‘Goddess’ wears a sash which reads “Akhil Bharatiya Congress”. To complete the picture, the demon she is slaying carries the labels ‘atankwad’ (terrorism) and ‘bhrashtachar’ (corruption).
It is amusing that Congressmen who would never lose an opportunity to praise Sonia Gandhi as a “tyaag aur balidaan ki devi” (Goddess of sacrifice and renunciation), are shying away at the very mention of the controversy.
"Action would be taken against those responsible for putting up the poster in the Moradabad Congress office," said Janardan Dwivedi, AICC general secretary taking a stern view of the incident. “No Congressman would do such a thing. It must be the mischief of some people with vested interests,” said another party leader Satyadev Tripathi.
BJP leader Lalji Tandon spoke on the subject with a hint of glee. “The Congress high command was very quick to criticise Vasundhara ji over a calendar. Now what does it have to say? Do they accept Sonia Gandhi as a goddess?” he asked.
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