Row erupts over King Mihir Bhoj’s posters in Dadri ahead of CM visit

Days ahead of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s proposed visit to Gautam Budh Nagar to unveil a 15-foot statue of Mihir Bhoj in Dadri, a row has erupted over the posters of the 9th century ruler erected at various places across the district

Days ahead of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s proposed visit to Gautam Budh Nagar to unveil a 15-foot statue of Mihir Bhoj in Dadri, a row has erupted over the posters of the 9th century ruler erected at various places across the district.

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A group of men on Saturday allegedly pulled down several such posters, soon after members of the Gurjar community claimed that Bhoj was a Gurjar king but the word ‘Gurjar’ was missing from all posters.

Shyam Singh Bhati, GB Nagar president of Akhil Bharatiya Veer Gurjar Mahasabha, said everyone knows that Samrat Mihir Bhoj belonged to the Gurjar community. “There are several schools, colleges, and parks named after him. The UP chief minister is going to unveil a Bhoj’s statue at a Dadri college on Wednesday. But local MLA Tejpal Nagar and other BJP leaders had dropped ‘Gurjar’ from posters to appease a section of other community, who claims Bhoj was a Rajput king,” he said.

Some people captured the pulling down of posters on camera and shared the video on social networking sites.

The CM is expected to unveil the Bhoj’s statue at Mihir Bhoj PG College in Dadri on September 22.

Dadri MLA Nagar has denied the allegations. “The CM will unveil a statue of Samrat Mihir Bhoj, and also lay foundation of a government girls inter college, a science lab at the Dadri college, and a community hall in the neighbourhood. Some people are involved in pulling down the posters. They will only comment on why they are damaging the posters. The statue’s name plate bears ‘Gurjar Samrat Mihir Bhoj’,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Dadri police have registered two FIRs for allegedly bringing down the posters which bear photos of Samrat Mihir Bhoj, CM Yogi Adityanath, MLA Nagar, and others.

According to Pradeep Tripathi, station house officer (SHO) of Dadri police station, Satyendra Kumar, a resident of Dadri, filed a complaint against a person for damaging the poster outside a school in Dadri on Saturday. Based on the complaint of local residents Lalit Nagar and Ravindra Kumar, another case was registered against five persons, including Shyam Singh Bhati, for damaging the posters, the SHO said, adding that nobody has been arrested.

The cases have been registered under sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation, with intent to cause riot), 505 (1)(B) (public mischief) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Indian Penal Code. “We are investigating the matter,” Tripathi said.

Meanwhile, members of Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena on Sunday held a meeting in Piyawali village in Greater Noida where they claimed that Bhoj was a Rajput king. Sena’s UP unit leader Rana Brajesh Pratap Singh said that they will protest any name change.