ABVP workers protest outside UP Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar's house over his 'goonda' remark

Ballia (UP), Sep 4 (PTI) Workers of the RSS-backed ABVP held a protest outside Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) leader Om Prakash Rajbhar's house in the Rasda area here on Thursday over him terming the outfit's members "goons" for their protest at a university in Barabanki.

They burnt Rajbhar's effigy and raised slogans against him. ABVP workers demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government immediately sack Rajbhar, a minister in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet.

The ABVP held a similar demonstration on Wednesday outside Rajbhar's house in Lucknow.

SHO of Rasda police station, Yogendra Bahadur Singh, said the protest lasted for half an hour.

On Monday, ABVP members protested on the campus of Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University over the alleged lack of affiliation of a law course. Footage online showed baton-wielding officers confronting demonstrators.

Several students were injured in the confrontation, and a glass of the Gadia police outpost was broken. The ABVP workers alleged that Rajbhar supported the lathi-charge and called them goons.  The SBSP's national chief general secretary Arvind Rajbhar, who is also the minister's son, accused the media of misquoting the party chief and Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar.

"The minister never used the word 'goonda'. He only underlined that protests should be held in a constitutional and democratic manner," he told PTI.

Arvind Rajbhar further blamed the administration for the lathi-charge on students, adding their demands were genuine. PTI COR ABN ABN SMV NSD NSD