Sometimes direct attack on Yogi and sometimes on Akhilesh, why does OP Rajbhar remain in so much limelight?

Yellow scarf around the neck, yellow jacket and the names of dozens of castes and districts in one breath. This is the identity of Om Prakash Rajbhar, a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government and chief of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief praises Mayawati at every opportunity, these days she is in alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and these days Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is her target. From his Facebook and Twitter profiles to the bytes given in the media, Om Prakash Rajbhar i.e. OP Rajbhar is targeting Akhilesh Yadav. The result of this is that now Samajwadi Party has also come out against Rajbhar and Akhilesh Yadav himself is answering him.

Om Prakash Rajbhar has created a stir in the politics of Uttar Pradesh by claiming a split in the parliamentary and legislative parties of the Samajwadi Party. He claims that there are many secrets which are known only to him apart from those close to Akhilesh Yadav. Interestingly, the same Om Prakash Rajbhar had once resigned from the Yogi Adityanath government. He was with Akhilesh Yadav in the 2022 assembly elections and criticized Yogi-Modi every day. When Samajwadi Party remained away from power in 2022, Rajbhar gradually again increased his closeness with BJP and became a cabinet minister in the Yogi government. Now the same Rajbhar is attacking Akhilesh Yadav this time. Let us understand what is the reason for his limelight…

Rajbhar is the attacker on Akhilesh

These days Om Prakash is attacking Akhilesh Yadav the most. He publicly writes small things related to Samajwadi Party leaders, Akhilesh Yadav and the party’s organization due to which the Samajwadi Party gets into trouble. He is also strongly criticizing the agenda of Samajwadi Party. He regularly posts on social media every day criticizing Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party, then gives a byte in the media and again replies to the post by evening. The effect of this is that not only Samajwadi Party but also Akhilesh Yadav himself has now started answering him.

Also read: ‘There will be a split in SP, Shah got the letter’, what did Akhilesh say on Rajbhar’s statement?

It is being said that through this, OP Rajbhar wants to increase the number of seats by making the battle of Purvanchal between SBSP vs Samajwadi Party. The reason for this is that Akhilesh Yadav had given them 17 seats in 2022 but it is not easy for them to get so many seats in the BJP alliance. At the same time, Om Prakash Rajbhar is staking claim on 26 seats of Purvanchal. This is the reason why he is busy increasing his political stature by directly attacking Akhilesh Yadav.

Yogi Adityanath was once the target

When Om Prakash Rajbhar, who was a minister in Yogi Adityanath’s government from 2017 to 2019, had resigned, he used to attack Yogi Adityanath in the same way as he is now targeting Akhilesh Yadav. At one time Om Prakash Rajbhar had even said that Yogi Adityanath wanted to kill him. While in NDA, he had also said that if BJP contests elections under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath in 2022, he will not remain in the alliance. Later Rajbhar did the same but when BJP won, he again returned with it and became a minister in the same Yogi Adityanath government.

Even when the candidates demonstrated regarding teacher recruitment in 2021, Rajbhar had taken the Yogi government to task. He said that Yogi Adityanath wants to suppress the voice of the youth by scaring them. This Rajbhar used to provoke Keshav Prasad Maurya and used to say that Yogi Adityanath makes Keshav Prasad Maurya sit on the stool because he belongs to a backward caste.

Also read: Will play in UP by showing video of Bihar in Delhi! What does OP Rajbhar want?

When Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister for the second time in 2022, Om Prakash Rajbhar congratulated him and reminded him of five promises. This included promises like getting rid of stray animals, providing jobs to the youth, reducing school fees, making medicines and tests cheaper and doing justice to all sections. Even then there was talk that Rajbhar would go with BJP but he was repeatedly saying that he would remain with SP.

blunt, frank and accurate attacks

The reason why Om Prakash Rajbhar is in the news is that he is very outspoken and outspoken. He says very easily that wherever he lives, he sings about that place. He not only says so but also does so. Anupriya Patel and Sanjay Nishad are also in NDA but these leaders are not attacking the opposition the way Om Prakash Rajbhar is. These days, even BJP is not attacking the Samajwadi Party as harshly as Om Prakash Rajbhar is.

Another thing about Rajbhar is that he speaks openly. He not only speaks outspokenly but also speaks in such a manner that the general public also likes his words. Even on big platforms, he starts speaking in Bhojpuri, uses local idioms and laughs and says many such things which people like. This is the reason why he is always in the news and the media also gives him ample footage.

Where does this strength come from?

In fact, Rajbhar has been continuously claiming that the number of Rajbhar voters in Uttar Pradesh is 12 percent. He says that Rajbhar voters in Purvanchal are 12 to 22 percent. On the basis of this, he gets the names of those districts counted in one breath where there are Rajbhar voters. Apart from the Rajbhars, he also lists the names of many backward castes and says that he fights for all these.

Also read: ‘SP and Congress are spreading hatred among Muslims’, now why should OP Rajbhar make such a claim?

The victory of SBSP on 4 seats in 2017 and 6 seats in 2022 shows that Rajbhar has been successful in attracting voters not only from Rajbhar but from many other backward castes. People of these castes have been with BSP for a long time, hence Rajbhar’s role has been important in breaking them from BSP and bringing them with NDA. For this, Rajbhars have also raised the demand for a long time that Rajbhars should be included in the Scheduled Caste and given reservation. His argument is that despite being in OBC, all the castes do not get the benefit of reservation.

How has your political career been?

Om Prakash Rajbhar, who was in Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for a long time, still praises Mayawati a lot. He contested elections in 1991 and 1996 on BSP ticket but did not win. He was also the District President of BSP in Varanasi. He got angry when Mayawati named Bhadohi district as Sant Ravidas Nagar. In the year 2002, he again wanted the ticket but he had realized that now his pulse was not going to melt. In such a situation, he left BSP and joined Sonelal Patel’s Apna Dal.

Rajbhar could not survive even in Apna Dal and after a few months i.e. in the year 2002, he formed Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). With this, he started trying to help Rajbhar and all other backward castes. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, his party fielded 14 candidates in UP and one in Bihar but did not achieve any success. In the 2007 UP assembly elections, candidates were fielded on 97 seats but again there was no success.

In 2012, he formed an alliance with Mukhtar Ansari’s party Qaumi Ekta Dal. Then his party fielded candidates on 52 seats but not a single candidate won. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Rajbhar fielded candidates on 13 seats. He himself contested elections from Salempur but then all the candidates were defeated. The effect of being active for two continuous decades and contesting elections was that people started recognizing him in many districts of Purvanchal. He made a good name among the voters of Rajbhar.

Amit Shah changed the fate!

Amit Shah, who was handling the responsibility of UP in 2017, had his eyes on such parties, castes and leaders who are strong in their areas. This was named social engineering. Apart from Rajbhar, Amit Shah had also taken Apna Dal (Sonelal) with him. Besides, leaders from different castes were included in BJP and given tickets to them also. Om Prakash Rajbhar’s luck shined in all this. In the alliance with BJP, SBSP got 8 seats and won 4. Despite winning only 4 seats, Om Prakash Rajbhar became a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government of UP.

However, his conflict with Yogi Adityanath started. OP Rajbhar started clashing over the transfer of officials, party office in Lucknow and giving ministerial posts to many other leaders. Once he sat on a strike to get the DM of Ghazipur removed. Tried many times but Yogi Adityanath did not meet him. Once Rajbhar had said in the Assembly building that he was roaming around with his resignation and if he met CM Yogi, he would submit it immediately.

Enmity with BJP, friendship with Akhilesh

OP Rajbhar resigned from the post of minister just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He said that BJP wanted him to contest the Lok Sabha elections on its symbol. After this he openly came out against BJP. Now he was looking for a new partner and Akhilesh Yadav was also busy in weakening the BJP alliance. In this sequence, in October 2021, an alliance was formed between Samajwadi Party and SBSP.

Akhilesh Yadav had given 17 seats to SBSP of Rajbhar and it won 6 of them. However, the change of power did not happen and Rajbhar started becoming disillusioned with the SP. After the election results, he started criticizing Akhilesh Yadav and gradually started growing closer to BJP. He returned to NDA again only in July 2023. In March 2024 i.e. just before the Lok Sabha elections, Rajbhar again became a minister in the Yogi government and is now with BJP.