A banner with 'I love Mahadev' slogan put up in Varanasi.
Credit: x/ @Hinduism_sci
Lucknow: Posters containing the slogan ‘I love Mahadev (Lord Shiva)’ appeared at several places, including temples and mutts, in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday to what the Hindu seers said "counter" the ‘I love Mohammed’ posters, which had appeared in many towns across the State in the past few days.
According to reports, the ‘I love Mahadev’ posters were pasted on the walls at many places in Varanasi by Sanatan Sena, a saffron outfit, activists led by Jagadguru Shankaracharya Narendrananda.
‘’The saint community will respond to the fundamentalists through these posters,’’ Narendrananda said in Varanasi. ‘’We will not allow India to become Bangladesh or Nepal,’’ he added.
The seers, who accompanied the sena activists, said some fundamentalist elements were trying to foment communal tension by ‘I love Mohammed’ posters and that they should be acted against.
The controversy began after some people put up a tent and pasted a poster containing ‘I love Mohammed’ during the procession being taken out on the occasion of ‘Barawafat’ earlier this month in Kanpur town in the State.
The police removed the tent and the poster, triggering a protest from the members of the Muslim community. The police also registered an FIR against 24 people in this connection.
The controversy soon spread to other towns in the State and also in some States in the country where similar posters appeared at public places, prompting police action.
The police in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district arrested a community leader and used bulldozers to remove the tents and tore the posters, besides booking several people for taking out a procession without permission.