Lucknow: Hoardings depicting Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, US entrepreneur Elon Musk and others as the 10 heads of Ravana were put up at several locations in Lucknow on Sunday ahead of Dussehra. Installed by the Sanatan Raksha Sangathan, the hoardings carried the title "Ravana, Enemies of Sanatan Bharat".

Besides Gandhi and Yadav, the hoardings featured Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, gangster-politicians Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmed, SP leader Azam Khan, US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and billionaire investor George Soros.

Atiq Ahmed was shot dead by assailants while in police custody in Prayagraj in April 2023. Ansari died in a Uttar Pradesh prison in March 2024.

The hoardings were put up in prominent areas, including Hazratganj and Gomti Nagar, drawing the attention of passersby. Samajwadi Party workers later removed them.

The incident comes amid a series of poster wars between the BJP and the SP in Lucknow, with both parties using posters and hoardings to target their political rivals.

In May, posters targeting Akhilesh Yadav and other SP leaders as "Katiyabaaz" (power thieves) appeared at several locations, including Bangla Bazaar and Old Jail Road. The posters alleged discriminatory electricity supply during the SP regime, while the SP accused the BJP government of orchestrating the campaign.

In other instances, hoardings depicted Yadav as "Rehman Dacoit", from the movie Dhurandhar, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as "Dhurandhar CM", juxtaposing alleged riots during the SP regime with action against mafias under the BJP government.

The SP has also put up posters outside its state headquarters targeting the BJP over alleged irregularities in donations to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, corruption, political donations and reservation. 

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