Poster row: Congress files complaint against Sena for 'insulting' President Pranab Mukherjee

The state unit of Congress on Thursday filed a complaint against the Shiv Sena for “insulting” President Pranab Mukherjee through an “objectionable” poster, which claimed that he “bowed” before the late saffron party supremo Bal Thackeray. A delegation of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), led by party legislator Bhai Jagtap lodged the complaint at the Shivaji Park Police Station. According to DNA, Jagtap’s delegation included state unit general secretary Rajan Bhosale, former legislator Subhash Chavan, state spokesperson Raju Waghmare and Pravin Naik. [caption id=“attachment_2479856” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The apparently ‘objectionable’ frame in the Shiv Sena poster. PTI[/caption] “The objectionable write-up on the poster was close to the President’s picture. Mukherjee had visited Thackeray during the Presidential election campaign. In keeping with Indian culture and tradition, Mukherjee folded his hands on meeting Thackeray. But, a write-up on the poster says the president bowed before him,” the complaint said. The poster was put up at Sena Bhavan in Dadar on Wednesday, the eve of the Sena’s annual Dussehra Melawa, by the party’s East Mumbai unit. Besides Mukherjee, it shows several party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Rajnath Singh, LK Advani, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, bowing reverentially before the late Sena leader. The lines accompanying the photos say: “(Have you) forgotten the days when your (now) proud necks bowed at the feet of the late Balasaheb?” A close aide of Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said the poster does not have the party’s official endorsement. That, however, did not stop the Congress from accusing the Sena of using the poster for “political mudslinging”. The photo used in the controversial poster was taken during Mukherjee’s meeting with the late Sena supremo at the time of the Presidential elections. Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil demanded an apology on Wednesday, stating, “Mukherjee was following the tradition of greeting an elderly person and was not bowing before anyone.” Meanwhile, Mumbai police removed the hoardings in a bid to prevent clashes between opposing political parties. With inputs from agencies