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The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Chhattisgarh has come up with a set of cartoons on social media to target the Opposition Congress' Lok Sabha poll candidates, including former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, over politics of appeasement and other issues.
While the BJP said it has only portrayed some incidents, which happened during the previous Congress regime through the cartoons which are not meant to hurt anyone, the grand old party accused it of releasing such illustrations out of frustration.
The 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh will see polling in three phases on April 19, April 26 and May 7 as per the schedule announced by the Election Commission of India.
The cartoon posters were released over the last week.
One such poster targeting former CM Baghel, who has been fielded by the Congress from Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat, was posted with the comment "Rajnandgaon or Jihadgaon...selection is yours".
The post shows a caricature of Baghel leading a queue, holding a green flag with jihadi giroh written on it, towards a milestone of Rajnandgaon and followed by cartoons of Raipur Mayor Aijaz Dhebar and former minister Mohammad Akbar holding weapons.
Baghel is seen saying bhaijan agla number Rajnandgaon ka hai (brother next number is Rajnandgaon).
BJP's state general secretary Sanjay Shrivastav told PTI, "It has been a tradition in the country to use different mediums of communication to send messages among the masses. Through the cartoon posters, the BJP has just portrayed the incidents which have happened (in the previous Congress government). The cartoon posters are not meant to hurt anyone."
Senior BJP MLA Dharamlal Kaushik said his party is trying to portray the failures of the previous Congress government through the satire art and it has been receiving good response from people.
A cartoon of former minister Shivkumar Dahariya, the Congress' nominee in Janjgir-Champa Lok sabha seat, was posted along with the comment "people of Janjgir-Champa should remain alert as former kabjabaaj (encroacher) minister is now eyeing on your land".
Dahariya is depicted holding a big sack with avaidh kabja sargana (illegal encroachment syndicate) written on it and heading towards Janjgir-Champa. The cartoon is shown as saying "have heard that there is a lot of land in Janjgir-Champa, let's encroach it."
Similarly, a cartoon depicting Jyotsana Mahant, the incumbent Congress MP from Korba Lok Sabha seat who has been re-nominated by the party, was posted with "an appeal to residents of Korba, this time don't choose an inactive, but an active MP".
The poster showed two persons asking "who are you", and the woman is seen holding a poster with mai aapki lapata sansad (I am your missing MP) written on it.
Another cartoon poster of former MLA Vikas Upadhyay, who has been fielded from Raipur Lok Sabha seat, asked residents of Raipur to be alert, saying vinash (destruction) comes with this 'Vikas'.
In another cartoon poster of former home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu, who is the Congress' nominee from Mahasamund Lok Sabha seat, the BJP took a swipe at him over communal violence at Biranpur village in Bemetara district in April last year in which 22-year-old Bhuneshwar Sahu was killed.
The man's father, Ishwar Sahu, was later elected as the BJP MLA in the state assembly polls held in November 2023.
The BJP has fielded its incumbent state minister Brijmohan Agrawal in Raipur, sitting MP Santosh Pandey in Rajnandgaon, senior woman leader Saroj Pandey in Korba, former MLA Rupkumari Choudhary in Mahasamund and Kamlesh Jangde, a fresh face, in Janjgir-Champa.
Chhattisgarh Congress communication wing head Sushil Anand Shukla claimed the BJP has been releasing the cartoon posters with "baseless" statements as it is afraid that his party candidates will win by huge margins.
Since the Congress has declared its Lok Sabha poll candidates in the state, the BJP has become frustrated as it is anticipating defeat, he said.
They are talking about "Modi ki guarantee" in elections but the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed on all fronts in the last 10 years, the Congress leader claimed.
Modi had promised to contain inflation in 100 days, giving employment to youth, doubling income of farmers, better returns for farm produce, depositing 15 lakh in bank accounts of each person but none of them were fulfilled, Shukla said.
People no longer have trust in Modi and they will teach him a lesson in the Lok Sabha polls, he claimed.