Explained: This article explains the political background, key decisions, and possible outcomes related to Explained : Cong complaint against BJP ad using Mahatma Gandhi caricature and Its Impact and why it matters right now.
Karnataka’s ruling Congress on Friday, 6 January lodged a formal complaint with the state home department and director-general of police M.A. Saleem, accusing the BJP of misusing Mahatma Gandhi’s image in a newspaper advertisement aimed at criticising the state government.
According to the complaint, the advertisement — published across several leading Kannada and English dailies — features caricatures of Gandhiji pointing his walking stick at chief minister Siddaramaiah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. It carries text suggesting they had looted the country in his name for six decades and were now spreading misinformation about the Centre’s VB-GRAMG Act, which the message claims fulfils Gandhiji’s vision of gram swaraj.
The BJP’s campaign followed an earlier publicity push by Karnataka’s rural development and panchayat raj department on 29 January and 3 February. Those advertisements portrayed Gandhiji in conversation with a fictional character named ‘Sangappa’, depicted in attire resembling an RSS uniform, and sought to highlight what the state government described as shortcomings in the Centre’s legislation compared to the earlier framework.
The VB-GRAMG Act recently replaced the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) — the flagship welfare programme of the Congress-led UPA government that legally guaranteed rural households up to 100 days of wage employment a year through public works projects, aimed at strengthening livelihood security and local infrastructure.
In his complaint, Congress MLC Ramesh Babu alleged the BJP’s advertisement amounted to irresponsible misuse of a national icon. “It has come to my notice that an advertisement given in several of today’s i.e., 06-02-2026 news papers is being publicly circulated wherein the image of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation and an internationally revered symbol of non-violence, has been wrongfully and irresponsibly used in connection with violent acts / violent messaging / incitement to violence,” he stated.