RLSP Chief Upendra Kushwaha. Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey
One person was arrested at Hajipur on Thursday in connection with the heckling of Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha near Hajipur during the anti-quota ‘Bharat Bandh’ called on Tuesday. Vaishali Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kumar said that Sumit Mishra, a resident of Lona village, was arrested in connection with the heckling of Kushwaha while he was on his way to attend a function of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in East Champaran district.
Kushwaha was unable to reach the venue because of roadblocks at various points by supporters of the “Bharat Bandh”, called in protest against caste-based reservations. “An FIR was lodged by the police at Rajapakar against 60 unknown people for misbehaving with the Union Minister. So far, only Sumit Mishra has been identified and subsequently arrested. He is being interrogated and based on his inputs we hope to identify and nab more people”, the SP said.
Kushwaha, who also heads the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, had yesterday condemned the incident at a press conference in Patna where he had said “a section of the savarn samaj (upper castes) is vitiating the atmosphere while the rest are committed to social harmony”.
Kushwaha had also asserted that he would go ahead with the “halla bol darwaza khol” campaign of his party, whereby the demand for adequate representation of SCs, STs and OBCs in the judiciary would be raised.
Meanwhile, in a statement RLSP national tresurer and spokesman Rajesh Yadav said demonstrations were held at all district headquarters of Bihar on Thursday in protest against the “insult” of their leader at the “hands of casteist, feudal and anti-reservation elements”.