PM Modi releases postal stamp on Suheldev in Ghazipur, NDA allies boycott his rally

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday released a commemorative postal stamp on the Rajbhar community icon Raja Suheldev in Ghazipur while NDA partner Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) - named after the icon of Rajbhar community - boycotted the event. Apart from the SBSP, the Apna Dal (S) also decided to distance itself from the event. The prime minister also laid the foundation stone of a medical college and released a commemorative postal stamp on Maharaja Suheldev. "Several important steps have being taken to transform Purvanchal into a big medical hub and to strengthen the small industries of UP," he said.

PM Modi said the effort was to take Maharaja Suheldev's contribution to all Indians through the postal stamp. "It is said that when he was the king people did not lock doors. Such brave sons were not given proper honour by previous governments and we have taken it as our duty to accord them the respect due to them," he added.

PM Modi also targeted Congress party for not fulfilling their promise of farm loan waiver in Karnataka. He said only a small number of loans were waived in Karnataka after the recent assembly elections in the state, where a JD(S)-Congress government is now in power. Interestingly, SBPS president Om Prakash Rajbhar, a legislator from Zahoorabad assembly constituency in Ghazipur district, is a Cabinet Minister in the Yogi Adityanath government and Anupriya Patel, a parliamentarian from Mirzapur, is Union Minister of State for Health in Modi Cabinet at the Centre.

Rajbhar is reportedly upset over the commemorative postal stamp on backward caste-Dalit chieftain Suheldev not mentioning his full name i.e. Maharaja Suheldev Rajbhar. The SBPS chief said that he was not invited to the event despite the fact that Suheldev is the icon his part and caste. The party also claimed that the Modi government is trying to erase the history of the community. 

The Rajbhar community has a presence in nearly 125 Assembly seats in eastern Uttar Pradesh and constitutes 2.60 per cent of the entire state's population and SBSP chief Rajbhar had claimed that in 62 Assembly seats, the Rajbhars need a little support from other communities to win those seats. Rajbhar had formed the SBSP in October 2002.