Ballia (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 17 : Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ram Govind Chaudhary on Friday stoked a controversy by calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ravana.
"Ram Mandir is a religious place for us, but for BJP it is a topic to shell out votes. PM Modi has become Ravana. The way Ravana took hostage of all the Gods and Goddesses, PM Modi has taken control over the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate and Reserve Bank of India," Chaudhary told media persons.
Referring to the violence in West Bengal, he said: "Since TMC leader and Chief Minister Mamata is powerful in Bengal, the BJP tried everything in its might to fan violence on the streets of Kolkata."
Clashes broke out on May 14 in Kolkata during BJP president Amit Shah's roadshow during which a bust of the 19th-century social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was vandalised in a college named after him.
Fifty-nine Lok Sabha seats including 13 in Uttar Pradesh will go to polls on May 19, the final phase of parliamentary elections. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.