AAP steps up campaign against Modi with new poster; BJP responds with a prophecy

AAP leader Sanjay Singh asked if it was a crime to ask if the prime minister of the country should be educated, a reference to a new set of posters that came up in parts of the national capital

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday stepped up its offensive against Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a poster campaign that targeted the prime minister and asked why some posters put up outside its party office in Delhi were removed.

Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh hit out at the BJP over a video clip that showed a policeman removing a poster (Twitter/SanjayAzadSln)

“It has become a crime to ask if the prime minister of the country should be educated… A police sub-inspector arrives soon after the posters were put up and removes the posters. It means that the PM and the entire BJP want to say that the country’s PM should be uneducated,” senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said in a video statement.

Singh’s statement was a reference to posters in Hindi that came up in parts of the national capital, which asked, “should India have an educated prime minister”. The AAP leader ended his message with an appeal to people to run a similar campaign on social media and elsewhere.

The row coincides with a planned AAP campaign to intensify its “Modi Hatao, Desh Bachao” campaign started in national capital Delhi on March 22. Posters with this message in 11 languages have been published and circulated across the country, said Delhi AAP chief and environment minister Gopal Rai.

When the poster campaign was soft-launched on March 22, the Delhi Police said they filed 185 cases and arrested six people while they were delivering the posters to AAP offices.

The following day, AAP chief and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal equated the police action to censorship during British rule.

“A hundred years ago, even the British did not arrest anyone for putting up posters against them. Who knew a PM would come and get 138 FIRs registered in 24 hours for putting up posters against him. Six poor people have been arrested. Why is Modi so afraid?,” Kejriwal said at an event on March 23. To be sure, the six people who were arrested were released on bail within hours.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana hit out at AAP over the new poster campaign, accusing AAP of starting another misinformation campaign against PM Modi. Khurana said it will backfire.

“The AAP’s misinformation campaign only helps PM’s popularity grow. The people of the country are watching the abuses AAP leaders are hurling at the PM, and they will give their reply at the right time,” Khurana said.

“The people of this country are not going to tolerate their PM being called uneducated. I can guarantee that AAP is not going to win even a single of the seven Delhi seats in the (2024) Lok Sabha polls,” Khurana said.