'Will Priyanka Gandhi Approve?' BJP, Owaisi Fume Over Congress Poster Showing Draupadi's Vastraharan

Hyderabad: The BJP has demanded an unconditional apology from Congress chief Rahul Gandhi after a cartoon put up by his party in Telangana used Draupadi's Vastraharan from Mahabharata as an analogy during the protests in Hyderabad.

According to the news agency ANI, the apparently controversial poster titled 'Democracy in Telangana’ was used during protests on Thursday against the alleged failures of the election authorities in ensuring free and fair elections in the state.

It shows voters as Draupadi who is being 'disrobed' by the Election Commission of India (ECI), depicted as the Kauravas, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Asaduddin Owaisi, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief, standing on either side as silent spectators.

The issue has slowly manifested into a political slugfest, after Telangana BJP spokesperson, Krishna Sagar Rao questioned whether the newly-appointed Congress general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would "approve" of women and Hindu mythological characters being depicted in such poor light.

The AIMIM chief, who also features in the cartoon, chimed in and said that while it’s the prerogative of every Indian to organize protest, the manner in which the Congress has used the poster is “completely wrong” and deeply offensive to women.

"What if someone creates a cartoon of Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi? How would the party react? I respect Sonia Gandhi a lot. The Congress party can protest for their rights but not in such a way that insults women," Owaisi told ANI.

However, Telangana Congress election committee chief, Marri Shashidhar Reddy said that he found nothing wrong in the posters and that surely, the BJP is “out of their mind” for seeking an apology from Rahul Gandhi and local leaders.

He has further claimed full responsibility of the poster and said that the poster had nothing to do with Hindu sentiments.

“It is a depiction showing what democracy in Telangana is being subjected to...The Election Commission is silent and they have failed to identify the mistakes in the electoral rolls. I being a Hindu will never do anything to hurt Hindu sentiments," he told ANI.