Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday (April 5) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of humiliating its own ally SBSP and the entire Rajbhar community, after a video of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak making OP Rajbhar’s son Arvind apologise on his knees went viral. Akhilesh demanded a “collective apology” from the BJP in connection with the matter and said that the community will vote against the BJP “in protest of this insult”.
“This is the arrogance of the dominant people of BJP, who are forcing the leader of their own alliance party to bow down and apologise, this is the height of humiliation. The entire BJP party should collectively apologise for this misdeed. The BJP has insulted not just one person but the entire society to which he belongs. The Rajbhar community will vote against the BJP in protest of this insult and will uproot the feudal thinking of the BJP,” Akhilesh Yadav posted on X in Hindi.
What was the incident?
In a viral video, Arvind Rajbhar, son of Om Prakash Rajbhar who is a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, is sitting on his knees in a gathering and apologising to the BJP workers on the instructions of the Deputy Chief Minister.
What was the whole sequence?
OP Rajbhar had campaigned against the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2022 and attacked the party on several occasions, miffing the BJP workers and leaders. Deputy CM in Mau made Rajbhar's son Arvind apologise in front of the angry workers of BJP. Deputy CM had reached Mau to pacify the angry party workers.
SP candidate reacts
Samajwadi Party national general secretary and Lok Sabha candidate Rajiv Rai attacked the BJP over the incident and said, “When father and son (OP Rajbhar and Arvind) were roaming around abusing Yogi Adityanath and other BJP leaders, then Brajesh Pathak should have thought of all this. Today, when elections are ahead, seeing the anger and division among the workers, he has taken such a step.
(Inputs from Rakesh)
