It is a very common sight to find paintings or other artwork made by students hanging on the walls of a school. This is done to showcase the talent, as well as encourage the students of the school. The sight is especially common in nursery schools.
It was no different in the Nursery Municipal School at Mall Avenue in Lucknow, where one of the walls of the school had paintings of flowers, birds, animals, etc. drawn by young kids. While normally such paintings by young kids will bring smile to an adult, one such painting didn’t go down well with some adults.
All because the painting had a lotus flower in it, which happens to the BJP symbol. The same painting had rose, marigold, lily flower etc. drawn on it by some kid, but the presence of lotus was found to be ‘controversial’ by politicians belonging to Congress, Samajwadi Party, and BSP.
These politicians happened to be inside the school because the premises were used for polling in the ongoing local bodies elections on Sunday. There was no objection to these paintings initially, but once Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh registered his vote, some people noted that that there was a lotus, along with other flowers, drawn on a painting hanging on the wall behind the Electronic Voting Machine.
And the ‘controversy’ started. The opposition leaders claimed that this was violation of code of conduct and an attempt to ‘influence’ the voters. Even though the painting was made by some school kid who drew various flowers, politicians insisted that this was part of some ‘political conspiracy’.
“It is a gross violation of code of conduct. It was a deliberate attempt and misuse of official machinery to benefit the ruling BJP and its candidates,” a Congress leader reportedly claimed.
Given that the opposition leaders are making all kinds of accusations, especially about EVMs, if and when BJP wins, the state election commission has promised to ‘look into the matter’ if someone registers an official complaint. However, to pacify the outraged politicians on the spot, the officials removed the flowers painting drawn by some kid, so that the polling progresses without trouble.
One hopes that the painting was not thrown in a dustbin and school authorities have put it back on the wall, else the little kid will be too disappointed when he or she comes to school today to find the masterpiece missing.
