BJP leaders wish Mahavir Jayanti by sharing images of Gautam Buddha, spark row

On the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti (April 10), celebrations are being held across the country. Leaders and public figures have been posting greetings on X (formerly Twitter) to mark the day. 

However, many BJP leaders, including Gujarat’s Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi and Education Minister Praful Panseriya, mistakenly posted images of Gautam Buddha instead of Lord Mahavir while extending their greetings, sparking controversy.

As these posts went viral on social media, members of the Jain community expressed their dismay, saying it was shocking that some of our leaders don’t even know the difference between Lord Mahavir and Lord Buddha. 

After realising the mistake, some leaders corrected it by removing the incorrect image and reposting with the correct photo of Lord Mahavir.

The list of those who posted greetings with Buddha’s image instead of Mahavir’s is quite long. It includes Jitu Vaghani, Bhavnagar MP Nimuben Bambhaniya, Ankleshwar MLA Ishwarsinh Patel, Mahemdavad MLA Arjunsinh Chauhan, Dholka MLA Kirtisinh Dabhi, Kheralu MLA Sardarbhai Chaudhary, Unjha MLA Kirti Patel, Jamnagar South MLA Divyesh Akbari, and Chhota udepur MP Jasubhai Rathwa, among others.

In addition, several local BJP leaders, such as Ahmedabad municipal councillor Hasmukh Patel (Saijpur-Bogha), BJP CA Cell member Naresh Kella, and Surat BJP General Secretary Kishore Bindal, also posted greetings with the wrong photo, seemingly copying the same mistake.

Harsh Sanghavi, however, corrected his post shortly after it went live. He deleted the old tweet and shared a new one with Lord Mahavir’s image.