An advertisement row has erupted in Karnataka over the new VB-G Ram G Act, which replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

After the ruling Congress brought out a newspaper ad that had a cartoon of Gandhi criticising the RSS uniform, the BJP has published an advertisement that shows Gandhi hitting Congress leaders Siddaramaiah, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge with a stick.

The BJP and the central government have faced flak for removing the name of Gandhi from the national job scheme, which provides 100 days of work to every rural household every year. The new scheme raises the number of workdays to 125.

The BJP advertisement published in Kannada in leading newspapers on Friday triggered an intense political backlash in the state.

The advertisement row started on January 29 when the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government published an advertisement in newspapers opposing the VB-G Ram G Act. It carried caricatures of Mahatma Gandhi having a conversation with a man named Sangappa, clad in a white shirt and khaki trousers, criticising the RSS uniform and giving out statistics on the MGNREGA.

Leader of the Opposition and senior BJP leader R. Ashoka said in the Karnataka Assembly that the advertisement issued by the rural development and panchayati raj department, headed by minister Priyank Kharge, had used money from the exchequer for this purpose.

On Wednesday, the state government passed a resolution in the Assembly opposing the repeal of the MGNREGA. BJP and JDS legislators staged a walkout.

The BJP on Friday retaliated to the Congress advertisement showing Mahatma Gandhi hitting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah with a stick.

Priyank posted on X: “Back then, Gandhi was assassinated by Godse; today, Gandhian principles are being assassinated by Godse-ites.”

He also accused the Centre of distorting Gandhian values and defaming the Father of the Nation. Priyank said that the BJP had been attempting to humiliate Gandhi, who gave the world the message of non-violence.