Kalyan residents poke fun at political hoardings, put up one to wish local dog on his birthday
The hoarding was put up at Netivali chowk in Kalyan (Picture Courtesy: Rishikesh Choudhary/Hindustan Times)
Tired of politicians putting up celebratory hoardings on public roads, a group of residents from Kalyan put up a hoarding of their own with birthday greetings for a seemingly fictional ‘local dog’.
Despite the ban imposed by the Bombay High Court, the state is littered with hoardings publicising political events, festive greetings, leader visits among other occasions.
The most common hoardings installed locally, however, are the ones which are erected by workers to felicitate and wish leaders on their birthdays.
Taking a cue from such displays, a group of Kalyan East residents put up a similar hoarding at Netivali chowk – albeit with birthday greetings for a dog.
The dog’s hoarding followed the same basic layout laid out by its political counterpart, where the ‘man of the hour’ occupies centre space and pictures of other prominent party members are featured below.
In this case, the hoarding was put up to celebrate the birthday of ‘Max Bhai’. The residents even went to the extent of assigning designations to the fictional party members like Tyson Bhai, Danger Bhai, Sam Bhai, Prince Bhai and Sweety Tai among others.
Needless to say, the hoarding has attracted a fair bit of attention and become a hit with locals.
Although it’s not certain for how long the hoarding will remain up, it will be interesting to see if political parties use the same space for celebratory messages again.
Political hoardings:
The Bombay High Court, in an earlier order, prohibited political parties from putting up illegal banners and posters in the state. Unfortunately, the order has fallen on deaf ears as such hoardings continue to crop up everywhere.
Earlier this year, when HC rapped the civic bodies for failing to enforce the order, its representatives told the court that their employees were unable to take stern action as they feared a backlash from political activists.
The bench then directed police authorities to provide armed constables for hoarding removal drives.
