AAP MLA Bharti held in Rae Bareli

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti was arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli on Monday for allegedly making derogatory remarks against the state’s chief minister Yogi Adityanath, shortly after a man threw ink at the AAP leader as he was leaving a guest house.

The events were slammed by the Aam Aadmi Party, which alleged that Bharti was first attacked and then framed.

Bharti had reached Rae Bareli on Sunday night to inspect its state-run primary schools, and was stopped by the police when he was leaving the guest house on Monday morning

According to a purported video clip from Saturday, Bharti, while talking about medical facilities in Uttar Pradesh, said in Hindi, “Children are being delivered in hospitals, but of dogs”.

Shortly after ink was thrown on him on Monday, Bharti, in another video clip, was apparently seen arguing with the policemen around him, saying he would strip them of their uniforms. He was also apparently heard telling the policemen to let CM Yogi Adityanath know his “death is imminent.”

People around Bharti were heard asking police officers to ensure the arrest of the man who hurled ink at him.

Amethi police on Monday travelled to Rae Bareli to arrest Bharti, a former Delhi cabinet minister, after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker Somnath Sahu registered a police complaint on Sunday over his alleged remarks on the state’s medical facilities day earlier.

According to Rae Bareli additional superintendent of police, Daya Ram, a case was registered under sections 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) of the Indian Penal Code.

Later on Monday, Bharti was remanded to judicial custody in the Sultanpur district jail. His bail plea will be heard on Wednesday. In a tweet in Hindi, the MLA said: “You have ink thrown at us, got goons to attack us, registered false cases and then pressured court to put us in jail. Yogi-ji, we will fight.”

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted at Adityanath on Monday. “Yogiji, our MLA Somnath Bharti ji was going to inspect your government schools. Ink was thrown at him? Are your schools so bad? If someone goes to check your schools, why do you get so scared? Fix the schools. If you do not know how to fix them, you should ask Manish Sisodia.”

UP finance minister Suresh Khanna said Kejriwal should apologise for Bharti’s comments.

“AAP wants to exercise Naxal politics in UP. But it (AAP) will not succeed,” he said, referring to AAP’s announcement that it would contest the 2022 polls.