Ex UP governor booked under sedition over remark on Adityanath govt

Rampur (Uttar Pradesh): Former governor of Uttar Pradesh Aziz Qureshi, 81, has been slapped with sedition by UP Police for his alleged derogatory remarks against chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of BJP member Akash Saxena at Civil Lines police station in Rampur district, on Sunday night.

He was in Rampur to meet Samajwadi Party leader Mohd Azam Khan's wife Tanzeen Fatima at her residence on Saturday.

He had compared the Yogi Adityanath government in UP to Satan and blood-sucking monsters for taking action against Azam Khan.

The former governor also provoked the youth of Rampur and called on them to block the route. He equated the legal action taken against Azam Khan as a battle between a man and a monster while defending Azam Khan and found such legal proceedings to be more oppressive than the invaders Ghaznavi, Abdali and Durrani.

Akash Saxena, in his complaint to police, also said the "remark made by Qureshi is getting traction on social media which can create tension between two communities and even lead to communal riots".

Qureshi, 81, who was a senior Congress member, had also served as the Governor of Mizoram in 2014-15.

Qureshi has been booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between two groups on ground of religion, race, etc.), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 124A (sedition) and 505 1B-(intent to cause fear or alarm to the public).

According to Rampur's Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sansaar Singh, "The complaint was lodged by Akash Saxena against former UP governor Aziz Queshi and after initial investigation the FIR was registered under relevant sections. We will take further action as per the law."