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Shiv Sena in poster war against PM and BJP

Police remove hoardings to prevent clashes in Mumbai.

Mumbai: The war of words between the BJP and the Shiv Sena escalated on Wednesday, with Sena activists putting up posters showing images of Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders bowing before the late Bal Thackeray, the party founder.
However, the police pulled down most of the posters within hours to prevent possible clashes between workers of the two parties. The BJP dominates the National Democratic Alliance - both at the centre and in the state - and the Sena is a junior ally.
Restless Sena leaders have been trying to provoke the BJP over the past few weeks, taunting its leaders including Prime Minister Modi and party chief Amit Shah, even as its hooligans have disrupted events featuring prominent Pakistani visitors to Mumbai.
The BJP has hit back at the Sena for its hooliganism; on Tuesday, finance minister Arun Jaitley bluntly told the Sena leadership to rein in radicals and not to let ties with Pakistan be decided on the streets of Mumbai. He also lashed out at the "copycat vandalism" of Sena activists, which was fuelled by the exhaustive media coverage it got.
On Wednesday, several large posters featuring images of BJP leaders including Modi, former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani, and even other politicians such as Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and President Pranab Mukherjee, with the late founder of the party were put up at prominent locations.
One of the most prominent images in the poster was of Modi, who as chief minister of Gujarat had bowed before Thackeray. And the caption next to the image taunted Modi: "Have you forgotten those days? Or were you just pretending to bow your proud head before Balasaheb?"
As images of the posters were flashed on television channels and went viral on social media, enraged BJP leaders criticised its junior partner for straining the alliance. According to sources, the Sena leadership then decided to tone down the shrillness of its anti-BJP campaign. Party spokesmen claimed that the posters had been put up by over-enthusiastic workers unhappy with the BJP, but did not have the backing of the party.
The police then swiftly pulled down the posters to prevent possible clashes between Sena and BJP workers.
The poster wars broke out on the eve of Dassera, when the Sena traditionally holds its annual rally at the Shivaji Park in central Mumbai. Last week, the Bombay high court agreed to allow the Sena to hold its annual rally at the park, but warned it to keep noise levels low.
The Sena has tried to embarrass Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in recent days by threatening to disrupt events featuring prominent Pakistanis.
It warned the organisers of a music concert featuring Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali, even after Fadnavis had assured protection; the concert had to be cancelled.
Sena hooligans also blackened the face of former BJP activist and chief of the Observer Research Foundation, Sudheendra Kulkarni, after he went ahead with a planned function to launch a book by former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.
nithin@khaleejtimes.com