Gods breastfeeding? Bajrang Dal appalled

Trial posters developed for a health programme run by NGO CARE India were confiscated after Bajrang Dal activists in Udaipur objected to 1...

Trial posters developed for a health programme run by NGO CARE India were confiscated after Bajrang Dal activists in Udaipur objected to 8216;8216;Gods being used as symbols to promote breastfeeding8217;8217;.

Posters depicting goddesses Yashoda and Parvati feeding Krishna and Ganesha were among those found objectionable. To promote the 8216;8216;Rachna8217;8217; programme, some posters also show Durga eating fruits and the baby in her womb benefiting from it. Appaled by these 8216;8216;radical posters8217;8217;, Bajrang Dal filed a police complaint, following which, the office of the Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal BLKM was raided on Tuesday and a FIR filed for 8216;8216;hurting religious sentiments8217;8217;.

8216;8216;We raided the premises of the organisation and confiscated seven posters,8217;8217; said DSP Yogesh Goyal. 8216;8216;A case has been registered under Section 295 a of the IPC, dealing with hurting religious sentiments.8217;8217;

8216;8216;How could they use our Gods like this?8217;8217; says Kamlendra Singh Pawar, a Bajrang Dal activist, who believes he has scored a point by not attacking the NGO8217;s office and going to the police instead.

BLKM officials clarify that these posters were developed only on a trial basis. 8216;8216;In our villages, people believe in gods and hence, after much debate, we decided to use their bal roop to explain the importance of breastfeeding,8217;8217; said Shyam Mali, assistant director of the organisation. 8216;8216;We were getting feedback on our posters when raid took place.8217;8217;

CARE India has distanced itself from the incident. 8216;8216;We have not had much to do with this organisation since October last,8217;8217; says director Dr Pramila Sanjay in Jaipur. 8216;8216;Even in the past, they have only developed plays and used folk music to promote the cause.8217;8217;

However, officials coordinating the Rachna project admit that BLKM was asked to develop material to promote this programme. Mali says when the posters were exhibited on a trial basis in Morvania village, the response was very positive.