A highly offensive hoarding stands outside the Uttar Pradesh Congress office. It depicts Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as Lord Shri Ram and state president Ajay Rai as Lakshman. The ten heads of Ravan represent inflation, jungle raj, corruption, the ED, vote thieves, the Election Commission, the CBI, unemployment, paper leaks, and dictatorship. The hoarding directly insults Lord Shri Ram.
Portraying Rahul Gandhi and Ajay Rai as Shri Ram and Lakshman is essentially an attempt to diminish the personalities of Shri Ram and Lakshman. Shri Ram is Maryada Purushottam—the supreme among men. To depict him in the form of someone like Rahul Gandhi is an insult to that noble personality and also an affront to the faith of millions of Hindus associated with him.
In the hoarding, Rahul Gandhi, in the form of Lord Shri Ram, is shown shooting arrows at the ten-headed figure representing these issues. NSUI state vice-president Aryan Mishra put up this hoarding. According to him, Rahul Gandhi is the one who will save the people from serious problems such as inflation, jungle raj, corruption, the ED, vote thieves, the Election Commission, the CBI, unemployment, paper leaks, and dictatorship.
However, the Congress party is trying to achieve its political goals by politicising Lord Shri Ram. You may recall that in 2007, the Congress filed a petition in the Supreme Court, in which it questioned the very existence of Lord Ram. Through this affidavit, Congress had stated that there was no historical evidence of Lord Ram’s existence. Later, due to public outrage and political pressure, the UPA government withdrew this affidavit.
Congress’s stance against the Ram Temple
Congress has consistently raised questions about the existence of Lord Ram and his birthplace in relation to the Ram Temple. Moreover, Congress lawyers fought cases for years opposing the construction of the Ram Temple.
In May 2025, someone filed a criminal complaint against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a Varanasi court. The complaint concerned his alleged remark about Lord Ram during his visit to the United States. The complainant accused Gandhi of hurting religious sentiments by calling Lord Ram a “mythological and fictional figure.”
Controversial hoarding on Dussehra
On Dussehra’s occasion, this hoarding was seen in the morning, and Aryan Mishra had reportedly put it up the previous night. People said the hoarding had been installed overnight. In the morning, those passing by noticed it. Many observed it with curiosity, and several even clicked photos and recorded videos of it on their mobile phones.
