Rahul Gandhi posters with JeM boss pop up in Amethi

LUCKNOW: Posters attacking Congress president Rahul Gandhi for referring to Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar with Hindi honorific ‘Ji’ popped up in Amethi on Wednesday.


The posters, put up by a Bharatiya Janata Party Yuvajan Morcha worker Shubham Tewari, depicted Rahul being felicitated by Masood Azhar, the architect of Pulwama attack.

The posters were captioned “Atankwadi ko ji kahe, aisa sansad Amethi ko nahi chahiye,” (Amethi doesn’t need an MP who addresses a terrorist with respectful suffixes).”

They further read: “Desh ke PM ka apmaan kare, atankwadi ka samman kare, aisa sansad Amethi ko nahi manzoor (Amethi cannot approve of an MP who insults the PM and pays respect to a terrorist).”

Justifying the posters, Tewari said: “Rahul Gandhi has embarrassed the people of India by showing respect to a terrorist. People of Amethi feel extremely bad because Rahul Gandhi represents them. As a well-wisher of Amethi, I decided to show my resentment through the posters.”

Addressing party workers in Delhi on Monday, Rahul had said “Masood Azhar Ji” while referring to JeM chief.

BJP had immediately launched an attack on the Congress president and questioned his nationalist feelings. Union minister Smriti Irani took a jibe at Rahul on twitter. “What’s common between Pakistan and Rahul Gandhi? Their love for terrorist,” she tweeted.

Defending its party chief, Congress said he was quoted out of context. “The BJP had read the sarcasm in Rahul Gandhi’s words. Offended by our attack on them, they countered with their propaganda,” said Deepak Singh, Congress MLC from Amethi.