Will boycott all BJP events until they implement 27% quota division: OP Rajbhar

Suheldev Bahujan Samaj Party (SBSP) president OP Rajbhar underscored on Saturday that his party will boycott Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Ghazipur and will not attend any other BJP-related event until their demands are fulfilled, primarily the 27 per cent quota division for the OBC category.

"Until the 27 per cent reservation division is not done, we will not attend any (of their) event. We have not been attending any event for 21 months since the (Uttar Pradesh) government was formed," Rajbhar told ANI.

The Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government had constituted a four-member social justice committee, headed by Justice Raghvendra Kumar to make recommendations regarding the further division of the quota for the OBC category. the more influential castes within the OBC category enjoyed most of the benefits from the 27 per cent reservation.

 

Rajbhar said that the BJP did not live up to the promises they made during the state assembly elections in 2017, one of which was the implementation of the .

"On March 20, Amit Shah ji said he will implement (the quota division) six months prior to the Lok Sabha elections. On April 11, he repeated the same thing and said they have to form committees and conduct tests in this regard. All of that has been done, but it has not been implemented yet. Now there are merely a hundred days left for the elections, how will they implement it now?" Rajbhar said.

When asked about similar tensions between the Apna Dal and the BJP, Rajbhar said that BJP has not fulfilled its promises made to the parties they allied with during elections in a number of states.

"When the elections came, they used us for votes. Use and throw. After elections they forget about us, now that elections are close, they are again remembering us," the SBSP president said.

When asked if his party will ally with the BJP during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rajbhar said that the ball is in the BJP's court. "If the BJP wants, we will. If not, we won't," Rajbhar said.

During the rally in Ghazipur, Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate a postal ticket of Maharaj Suheldev Rajbhar, a king from Shravasti from the early 11th century.

In an official statement, the SBSP said that another reason for the party to boycott the rally was that the postal ticket only mentions the name 'Maharaja Suheldev', omitting the name 'Rajbhar', which the party said dishonours the history of the king.