Outrage Over Portrayal of Sonia Gandhi as Durga

[Guest guest]

[About a month ago, I posted an article on the backlash over a poster

portraying Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as Goddess

Annapoorna (see thread link below). Well now the Times of London

reports it's happened again -- this time with Sonia Gandhi, leader of

India's Congress party, portrayed as Goddess Durga. - DB]

 

POSTER TAKES FLATTERY TOO FAR FOR GANDHI 'THE WARRIOR GODDESS'

 

NEW DELHI (June 27, 2007): Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born leader of

India's Congress Party, has spent much of her life trying to downplay

her foreign roots by speaking in Hindi and always wearing a sari in

public.

 

But now she faces another image problem after local Congress

activists issued posters depicting her as a Hindu goddess and as a

princess who helped to lead the Indian Mutiny in 1857.

 

The posters, although designed to flatter, are embarrassing because

Congress is a secular party and Hindu nationalists say they insult

both Hinduism and the memory of a great Indian freedom fighter.

 

One poster, published by a local party leader in the northern state

of Uttar Pradesh, portrayed Mrs Gandhi as Durga, the ten-armed

warrior goddess.

 

When it hit the headlines last week, Mrs Gandhi promptly condemned

the image and sacked Ajay Soni, the man responsible, as Congress

chief for the district of Moradabad.

 

The other poster, produced by a former Congress legislator in the

state of Madhya Pradesh, shows her riding into battle in the form of

Rani Laxmibai, a maharajah’s wife who fought the British 150 years

ago. Mrs Gandhi’s son, Rahul, is depicted as a baby slung over her

back.

 

Kailash Sonkar, a High Court lawyer, said that he and two other

Congress officials had commissioned the poster in 2004 and that he

had been displaying it in his home and office since. " I see nothing

wrong or objectionable in exercising my right to freedom of

expression, " he told The Times.

 

" Rani Laxmibai stood against the hardships of the British following

the brutal killing of her own family and people. With her grit and

determination, she retained the respect of Indian women. In Sonia

Gandhi, I see the same qualities. " Congress, though, was unimpressed

and suspended all three men yesterday.

 

The party’s swift response highlights the fine line that Mrs Gandhi,

born Sonia Maino and the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, must tread as a

foreigner who is also now de facto leader of the Gandhi-Nehru

dynasty.

 

Demands by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party for an

apology have been tempered by a similar controversy over the BJP

chief minister of Rajasthan, who was recently portrayed as a Hindu

goddess in a campaign poster.

 

Hindu deity

 

†" Durga, meaning " invincible " in Sanskrit, is a supreme Hindu

goddess, the wife of Shiva and mother of Karttikeya and Ganesha and

is the embodiment of feminine and creative energy

 

†" She is also known as Parvati, Ambika, and Kali

 

†" According to the Devi Mahatma narrative, Durga was created to

destroy the demon king Mahisha, who was wreaking havoc on Earth and

in heaven

 

†" Each of her body parts was formed by a god: her face by Shiva, her

ten arms by Lord Vishnu, her three eyes by Agni the Fire God, and her

eyebrows by the sunset and sunrise

 

SOURCE: The Times, London. June 27, 2007, Poster takes flattery too

far for Gandhi ‘the warrior goddess’ by Jeremy Page in Delhi

URL:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1991199.ece

 

 

, " Devi Bhakta "

<devi_bhakta wrote:

>

> Jaipur (Rajasthan), May 26, 2007: BJP leader Jaswant Singh's wife

> Sheetal Kanwar has filed a police complaint against the publishers

of

> a poster that depicts Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and

> other senior leaders as Gods and Goddesses. Kanwar has claimed that

> the poster hurts religious sentiments of Hindus.

>

> The complaint has also been filed against the BJP leaders present

at

> the release of the poster last month.

>

> It was the ultimate in Photoshop politics. Last month Jodhpur's BJP

> MLA Suryakanta Vyas took sycophancy in Rajasthan to a new level

with

> a poster created by a temple priest depicting Rajasthan Chief

> Minister Vasundhara Raje as Goddess Annapurna and her Cabinet

> colleagues as courtiers.

>

> The poster also depicts senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Rajnath

Singh

> and Atal Behari Vajpayee as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively.

>

> " The Vidhan Sabha is like a royal court where the royal sits on the

> throne and the courtiers sits at a lower level so I've shown Mother

> Vasundhara holding court and the ministers as courtiers, " says the

> priest, Hemant Bohra, in his defence.

>

> And this isn't the first time for Vasundhara Raje to be projected

as

> a Goddess. In the last three years of BJP rule, there's been an

> entire prayer book dedicated to her and one of her Cabinet

colleagues

> actually got away with worshipping her in his private temple.

>

> There's a Friends of Vasundhara club, a Vasundhara Raga and hundred

> of posters of the Chief Minister across the Pink City.

>

> But, it's not just the Congress, people in Jaipur, too, have had

> enough of all the fawning.

>

> Says a resident of Jaipur, Ritesh, " This is sheer flattery. It's

not

> only regressive, but it also hurts our religious beliefs and we

> expect our Chief Minister to act strongly in discouraging such

feudal

> acts. "

>

> But for Raje devotees, it sure seems that flattery is the way to

get

> everywhere.

>

> SOURCE: CNN-IBM

> URL: <http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/41362/raje-morphs-into-goddess-

> bjp-not-amused.html>

> VIDEO: http://tinyurl.com/24eexx

>