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Former UP governor booked for sedition over remarks against Yogi govt
According to UP police, Qureshi has been booked for sedition following a complaint by local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Akash Kumar Saxena, at the Civil Lines police station in Rampur district on Sunday.
Former governor of Uttar Pradesh, Aziz Qureshi, has been booked for sedition over his alleged derogatory remarks against the Yogi Adityanath-led government, the police said on Monday. Qureshi, however, said he was misquoted to cause political harm.
According to the police, Qureshi has been booked following a complaint by local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Akash Kumar Saxena, at the Civil Lines police station in Rampur district on Sunday.
In his complaint, Saxena alleged that after visiting Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan’s house and meeting his wife Tazeen Fatma, Qureshi made derogatory statements against the Adityanath government and compared it to a “blood-sucking demon”. “The statement can create tension between two communities and create unrest in the society,” the complaint added.
Qureshi (81) is a senior Congress leader who served as the governor of Mizoram from 2014 to 2015 and also briefly held charge of Uttar Pradesh in June 2014.
Speaking to news agency ANI, the former governor said: “It is my right to oppose the policies of the government and I will fight for it till my last breath in a democratic way. My statement is being completely distorted to harm me politically and to mislead the public.”
“I had said that there have not been as many atrocities in earlier days like today. I have not made any remarks against anyone,” he added.
According to the FIR, Qureshi has been booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity between two groups on grounds of religion, race), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 124A (sedition), and 505(1)(B) (intent to cause fear or alarm to the public) of the Indian Penal Code.
“The FIR against Aziz Qureshi was lodged on the complaint of one Akash Saxena. Qureshi has been booked under sedition on the basis of the complaint made to the police. A team of the local police station is investigating the matter. We are also collecting video evidence of the incident for probe,” said additional superintendent of police (Rampur) Sansar Singh.
Hitting out at the government, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said: “The words by Mr Qureshi may not be in good taste but how on earth does his statement constitutes the offence of sedition. Since when has CM Yogi became a state? The criticism of government is not sedition, UP police needs to keep this in mind. The Supreme Court has also expressed concerns about the misuse of the law. It has asked the central government why is it not repealing a colonial era law that was used against our freedom fighters. Rampant misuse of this law shows the anti-democratic character of the present UP government.”
