On Thursday, further posters attacking the educational credentials of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were sighted in Delhi.
The blue banners posed the question, “Should India’s prime minister have an education?”
” followed the introduction in many languages of the AAP’s “Modi hatao desh bachao” campaign.
Last week, Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the AAP, was seen openly hitting the prime minister with a similar question.
“Desh ke saamne aaj ek sawal rakhana chaahata hoon, kya ek kam padhe-likhe pradhanmantri ikkisvi sadi ke Bharat ka nirmaan kar sakate hai? Bharat ke pradhanmantri padhe-likhe to hone hi chaahiye (I want to put a question to the country today: Can a less educated Prime Minister construct the India of the 21st century?),” Kejriwal stated.
In his address to the Delhi Assembly, Kejriwal leveled various accusations against Prime Minister Modi over his relationship with the wealthy industrialist Gautam Adani.
Sanjay Singh, a member of the Rajya Sabha, questioned why it was a crime to inquire if the prime minister of the country should be educated. “Modi ji’s party and his supporters believe that the prime minister of India should be educated,” Singh added.
“A police sub-inspector arrives shortly after the posters are put up and removes them,” Singh said in a video message in response to “Should India Have an Educated Prime Minister” posters. “This means that the Prime Minister and the entire BJP believe that the country’s prime minister should be uneducated,” Singh added.
He also requested that others do similar initiatives.
After “Modi hatao, desh bachao” posters surfaced in the nation’s capital last week, the police filed various FIRs and detained six individuals.
Among those jailed were two proprietors of printing presses.
What is the BJP’s position?
The BJP thinks that the more the opposition attacks Prime Minister Modi, the more he and his party would profit.
According to Harish Khurana, a BJP leader in Delhi, the “misinformation campaign” against Prime Minister Modi will “backfire.”
“The AAP’s disinformation campaign only serves to increase the PM’s popularity. The people of the nation are watching the insults AAP leaders are throwing at the PM, and they will respond at the appropriate moment.
“The citizens of our nation will not allow their prime minister being labelled ignorant,” Khurana stated.
Politics behind billboards
Political commentators feel that Kejriwal is attempting to position himself as the leading candidate in the campaign over Prime Minister Modi’s ties with Adani and to position himself as the leading opposition candidate in the 2024 General Election.
“The perception is that the Congress and Rahul Gandhi have taken the space and the lead on the Adani issue. Kejriwal wants to show that it is still his campaign. Kejriwal has chosen the floor of the Delhi Assembly to do so because he is protected by the law there. Moreover, whatever is said there becomes a part of the record. Since AAP controls the House, whatever Kejriwal says cannot be expunged, unlike in Parliament”, they say.
Nonetheless, it appears that the BJP would want the Congress to remain its primary adversary, which is why many feel the party is focusing on Rahul Gandhi.
Importantly, when the Delhi Police filed charges and made arrests, Kejriwal asserted that “not even the Brits arrested anyone for putting up anti-British posters.”
Kejriwal was reported as stating at a rally on March 23: “Who thought a prime minister would come and get 138 FIRs made in 24 hours for putting up posters against him? Six poor people have been detained. Why is Modi so afraid?”
