Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh Governor Aziz Qureshi has been booked for sedition. It has happened after Aziz Qureshi allegedly made some derogatory remarks against the Yogi Adityanath government, police said Monday. The FIR was lodged following a complaint by BJP leader Akash Kumar Saxena at the Civil Lines Police Station in Rampur district Sunday.
In his complaint, Saxena has alleged that Qureshi visited Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan’s house. After meeting his wife Tazeen Fatma, the former UP governor made derogatory statements against the Yogi Adityanath government. He compared the government to a ‘blood-sucking demon’.
“The statement can create tension between two communities and create unrest in the society,” Saxena said in his complaint. The BJP leader also handed over to police a pen drive containing Qureshi’s alleged statement which was aired by various news channels.
Qureshi was 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), a senior police officer said.
Qureshi (81), is a senior Congress leader and had served as the Governor of Mizoram from 2014 to 2015. He also had charge of Uttar Pradesh for some time.
Police said action will be taken according to the law. This is probably for the first time that a former governor has been booked for sedition in India.