The poster war in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bhopal escalated on Monday.
On Monday, new posters with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s face on a QR code and a slogan ‘50% laao; phone pe kaam karaao’ (bring 50 per cent and get work done on a phone call) appeared across the state. In Bhopal, these posters were even put up on huge cutouts of PM Modi erected to welcome him to the state's capital.
These posters are very similar to the posters put up in Karnataka ahead of assembly polls in the state with former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s face embedded in a QR code, with the slogan ‘PayCM; 40% accepted here’. These posters were a huge point of discussion in Karnataka as they highlighted the alleged corruption by the then BJP government.
The poster war in Madhya Pradesh started on June 23, when posters of Congress state chief Kamal Nath’s face embedded in a QR code and titled ‘wanted’ and a list of alleged scams of the Congress government during its 15-month tenure were put up in Bhopal and Singrauli.
Former Congress minister P.C. Sharma lodged a police complaint against the BJP accusing it of putting up the posters even as the BJP claimed that the posters had been put up by Nath’s detractors in the party.
Meanwhile, on the same evening, another set of posters with CM Chouhan’s photograph and slogans like ‘Shivraj nahi; Ghotala Raaj’ (not Shivraj but rule of scams) and ‘Shivraj ke 18 saal; ghaple aur ghotalo ki bharmaar’ (18 years of Shivraj; full of scams and misdeeds) came up.
This led to a long-drawn war of words between Congress and BJP leaders with both accusing each other of engaging in low-level tactics.
Things remained quiet till a new set of posters emerged on Monday, targeting CM Chouhan again. Congress social media handles shared images and videos of such posters from various districts across the state drawing a sharp reaction from BJP chief V.D. Sharma, who said no amount of posters could hide the development work done by CM Chouhan and PM Modi.
Earlier in the day, Congress state chief Kamal Nath asked who had started the game of posters. He said the posters (targeting him) were put up in a planned manner by the BJP using a third party. “Then our people started too, who all can we stop? But the more the BJP abuses me, the more blessings I will receive from the people. These people have started petty politics of personal abuse. They should talk about their achievements, their long tenure, but they won’t do it. They just have the agenda to abuse Kamal Nath,” he said.
Nath said BJP leaders see Kamal Nath in their nightmares. About the videos targeting him issued by BJP, he said they could make videos or films and Shivraj Singh might himself could act in them as he is a big actor. “These people are frustrated. They have understood that despite misusing police, money and administration, people have decided to give farewell to them.”
Sharma said during the 15-month government of Congress, there were not only allegations against Kamal Nath but cash was recovered from people close to him. “You have put up posters against Shivraj Singh ji. This was done out of frustration over posters against Kamal Nath put up by his own people. I can say seriously that these posters have failed before the wall of development created by the BJP government under the leadership of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.”
