In a strange incident reported from Maharashtra's Nagpur, a calender had the illustration of a goat with a mosque like figure drawn at the top of it superimposed on the Shri Hari Vitthal's image. The incident came to light after people noticed the anomaly and shared it on social media platforms. The outrage grew over a goat's illustration to represent the festival of Bakri Eid superimposed on Shri Hari Vitthal's image, a revered deity in Maharashtra. Soon, the maker of the calender, who also happens to be NCP district president, had to apologise for the "mistake". He said in his apology that it was an "inadvertant mistake". The Devshayani Ekadashi or Ashadi Ekadashi and Eid-al-Adah (also known as Bakrid or Bakri Eid) falls on the same day on June 29 this year.
The NCP leader responsible for the calender took to Instagram and issued an apology. He said in this apology, "Due to two festivals falling on the same day, an inadvertent mistake has been made in the annual calendar during printing. It is not intended to hurt anyone's feelings. I apologizes if this has hurt the sentiments of the Varkari and the devotees. Since this is definitely a serious issue, it is a humble appeal that no one should play politics on this during the festive season."
However, the image of the calender with the objectionable part was shared on Twitter by users who pointed out the mistake and asked for action to be taken.
A user asked for investigation into the matter.
Politics also broke out over the incident as the Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of BJP, warned of action if the calender is not taken down. They made it clear that the calender should be withdrawn. A complaint was also lodged with the police in connection with the matter by the BJYM.
The BJYM clearly said in its complaint that they would take to the streets to protest against the incident if they objections are not addressed. The NCP leader, on his part, issued an apology and asked that "no politics should be carried out over the incident" during this festive season.
