Varanasi: Samajwadi Party workers staged protests after hoardings and posters inspired by Bollywood film ‘Dhurandhar’ surfaced at several locations in Azamgarh, Jaunpur and other parts of UP on Tuesday.The hoardings portrayed SP president Akhilesh Yadav as Rehman Dakait — a Pakistani gangster in the movie — with newspaper clippings of alleged crimes committed during the SP govt.On the other side of the hoardings and posters, chief minister Yogi Adityanath is shown as ‘Dhurandhar CM’, performing religious rituals, with clippings about the deaths of gangsters like Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmed.Upset over the hoardings put up at Harbanspur in Sidhari, Jagdishpur bridge in Phoolpur, and Bilriyaganj market in Azamgarh, SP’s district unit president Hawaldar Yadav, along with MLAs, met superintendent of police, Anil Kumar, and demanded action against people involved in putting up of the hoardings, claiming that it could disturb peace in the city.Officials said that SP workers were assured of proper investigation.Posters contained names of activists of lesser known organisation, Youth Against Mafia.The content on the hoardings compared Akhilesh govt (2012-2017) with Karachi’s Lyari by drawing imagery from the movie. The picture of SP chief, portrayed as Rehman Dakait, had the caption ‘Akhilesh ka Lyari Raj’. Some hoardings also carried newspaper clippings linked to Atiq Ahmed, Mukhtar Ansari and Mukim Kala, presenting the Yogi govt’s anti-mafia actions as a major achievement. References to riots in Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Shamli during SP rule were also made.Terming it as political conspiracy, SP workers removed and tore hoardings and posters at different sites. They also started reaching local police stations demanding action against Youth Against Mafia.
