New Delhi: Earlier this week, Lucknow saw large billboards criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ‘jumlebaazi’ and calling for Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath to be the next prime minister. Placed close to the chief minister’s residence, the billboards hailed Adityanath as a Hindutva ‘brand’, a role PM Modi has supposedly failed to play.

Lucknow police lodged an FIR on Wednesday and arrested three people on charges of defamation and damage to public property. The three people arrested are those who had printed and put up the poster on the orders of Amit Jani, chief of the Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena.

“The police has picked up the poor people who were responsible for putting up the billboard. They put up posters for everyone. What is the point of arresting them,” Jani told The Wire.

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He also claimed that he had ordered the billboards to be put up as he, being a ‘staunch Hindu’, was disillusioned with Narendra Modi’s leadership in the last four-and-a-half years.

“First, he divided Hindus and Muslims who used to live as brothers. He made lofty promises for Hindus including building the Ram temple, abrogation of article 370 in Kashmir. But he has fulfilled none of these. Instead, he has bowed to the Dalits on the issue of the SC/ST Act. He is visiting mosques. He is criticising cow vigilantes,” Jani said.

According to Jani, Yogi Adityanath, on the other hand, in his short tenure as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, has proved himself a much more able ‘Hindutva leader’. “As soon as Yogi ji became the chief minister, he shut down all illegal slaughterhouses. He removed the disgraceful names Faizabad and Allahabad and replaced them with Ayodhya and Allahabad. He ensured that DJ was allowed for Kanwar Yatras,” he said.

Jani is certain that Adityanath would ensure that Ram temple is built in Ayodhya if he is elected as prime minister. “He has already expressed that if it was in the hands of the UP chief minister, he would have already built the Ram temple. I have full faith that if he becomes the PM, he will ensure that Ram temple is built.”

Jani’s UP Navnirman Sena has now called for a ‘dharm sansad’ on February 10 in Lucknow where ‘several organisations’ will call for Yogi Adityanath to be the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. “See, the message for Modi is simple: He should either build Ram temple or step aside. In Yogi ji, we have someone very able who can take over from Modi and build the temple,” Jani said.