Ex-UP minister Rajbhar booked for provocative language

Former Uttar Pradesh minister and SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar have been booked for allegedly using provocative language against the ruling BJP during a public meeting here.

Kopaganj police station in-charge Vinay Kumar Singh on Tuesday said based on a complaint by BJP leader Akhilesh Rajbhar, an FIR has been lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against Om Prakash Rajbhar, and investigations are on.

Addressing a meeting in Ghosi of Mau district on Sunday, Om Prakash Rajbhar had said, "The BJP has given me immense pain. I get angry on seeing them and feel that I should pick up a sword like Maharaj Suheldev and behead any BJP leader I can lay my eyes on."

Reacting to the FIR against the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief, party general secretary Arun Rajbhar said, "It is an attempt to gag Om Prakash Rajbhar. We are not going to be cowed down by such tactics. This is indicative of the BJP's frustrations."

A day after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls concluded, Om Prakash Rajbhar was removed from the Uttar Pradesh cabinet by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for making embarrassing statements against the BJP.

During the Lok Sabha poll campaign, Rajbhar had said BJP members should be "thrashed" with shoes. As his outburst against the BJP grew louder, Adityanath sacked him from his cabinet on May 20.

Then-Governor Ram Naik accepted the chief minister's recommendation and relieved Om Prakash Rajbhar from his ministerial post with immediate effect.