Senior SP leader booked for making inflammatory speech in UP

Senior Samajwadi Party leader Veer Pal Singh Yadav was booked for allegedly making an inflammatory speech following communal tension between two villages in Uttar Pradesh, police said Wednesday.

A video of the speech was widely shared on social media in which Yadav had purportedly made some comments against Kanwads and Hindu gods. they said.

Tension was brewing between Umariya and Khajuria villages from the holy month of Shrawan due to Kanwad yatra and Moharram, they said.

Forty-one people were arrested from Umariya village and 16 from Khajuria following some incidents of violence related to the yatra and Moharram, the police said.

The former Rajya Sabha MP went to Umariya village under Bithari Chainpur Police Station Monday after the police arrested some Muslims there and had made an inflammatory speech in solidarity with them, they added.

Taking cognisance of the video, the SSP Muniraj directed the police to lodge an FIR against him for hurting the sentiments of people, they said, adding investigation was on in the case.