BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga (left) at the #SaveSabarimala event, Sunday. (Photo: Renuka Puri) BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga (left) at the #SaveSabarimala event, Sunday. (Photo: Renuka Puri) An event organised by Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga, meant to press for restrictions on entry of women inside Sabarimala temple, has put the party in a spot for using staged photos of an RSS worker who has been arrested. Sunday’s event was held in front of a large poster that had an image of a man dressed in black, with an Ayyappa statue in one hand and a stick in the other. The foot of a man, purportedly a police officer, is placed on the former’s chest. Stickers with the same image were distributed. The poster reads: “100 crore Hinduon ki aastha par prahaar band karo (stop the assault on the belief of 100 crore Hindus)”, along with the words #SaveSabarimala. Those on the stage, including Bagga, also held up smaller posters showing the image. Except, the man in the poster, 39-year-old RSS worker Rajesh R Kurup, was arrested on November 5 from Kerala’s Alappuzha district for staging photographs of the “attack”. On Monday, Bagga, who organised the event, clarified that the photo on the poster was “representative” in nature. A BJP spokesperson said Bagga had organised the event, also attended by rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra, in his personal capacity. An officer from Kerala’s Mannar police station said a case was registered against Kurup under IPC sections 153 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), section 500 (punishment for defamation), and section 118 (penalty for causing grave violation of public order or danger) and section 120 (penalty for causing nuisance and violation of public order) of the Kerala Police Act. The case was filed following a complaint by a DYFI worker. “Kurup confessed saying he had posted the photos on Facebook to register his protest against police lathicharge on devotees during the agitation at Nilakkal last month. He withdrew them when the photos led to a controversy. By then, the photos had gone viral,” the officer said. While one staged image showed Kurup being “attacked” by a police officer, the other showed him with a sickle around his neck. Several people mistook them for real pictures from the lathicharge on protesters at Nilakkal, the base camp of the Sabarimala temple, last month. The RSS and other Hindu outfits have been agitating against the Supreme Court verdict that lifted age restrictions on the entry of women at the temple. Bagga, however, insisted that the photos were part of a documentary being made on the issue. “Atrocities that are much worse are being meted out to devotees in Kerala. These images were part of the documentary that was being filmed. We have said on the sticker that the pictures were representational… We have distributed close to 5,000 stickers so far and will continue the campaign for a week. We are asking people to download them from the internet and print them out as we can’t ship these across the country,” he told The Indian Express. For all the latest Delhi News, download Indian Express App

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