The poster war was has intensified in Madhya Pradesh, as activities related to impending by-polls in the state have began. In a latest incident, a Congress spokesperson landed in police custody after he put up a ‘missing’ poster of former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in front of Jai Vilas Palace in Gwalior.
The spokesperson, Siddharth Singh Rajawat, was arrested by the Jhansi Road police under Sections 188 and 505 (1)(c) of Indian Penal Code. In-charge of Jhansi Road police station, Hemant Shakya, said Rajawat has been arrested for political activities that could lead to situation of confrontation between two different sections of the society.
Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code pertains to disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant, while Section 505(1)(c) is regarding action 'with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community’.
The poster put up by Rajawat carried a photograph of Scindia with the caption ‘search for missing people’s servant’, written in Hindi. A reward of Rs 5,100 was offered to anyone giving information on the ‘missing person’. The poster took a dig at Scindia saying the person “who was not able to serve people while in Congress, who was not able to take up the issue of migrant workers and who had desire to take to the streets, is missing.”
Narendra Saluja, the media coordinator of MP Congress Chief Kamal Nath, shared the poster on Twitter with comments asking where was the ‘jan sevak’ (public servant – as Scindia repeatedly referred to himself) when the common people, farmers and labourers are facing a crisis and what happened to his slogans of service to people.
The Scindia poster comes in the wake of series of a missing posters put up in various parts of the state to target people’s representatives by their opponents. From Bhopal member of parliament Pragya Singh Thakur to former chief minister Kamal Nath and his member of parliament son Nakul Nath (in Chhindwara) to former speaker of MP assembly N.P. Prajapati (Gotegaon MLA), several leaders were targetted with the 'missing' posters.
After posters in Chhindwara targeting Kamal Nath, who is local MLA, the father-son duo started a three-day visit to the constituency on Sunday.
