Oppn. comes out in support of U.P. teacher booked by police over verse on Kanwar Yatra

Opposition leaders in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday came out in support of a teacher from Bareilly, who was booked under Section 353 (2) (making statements containing false information, rumour or alarming news) of the BNS for his poem, parts of which referred to the Kanwar Yatra.

The FIR against Rajneesh Gangwar, a teacher at Bareilly’s MGM Inter College, was registered on July 13, based on a complaint by an outfit named Kanwar Seva Samiti.

The video of Mr. Gangwar reciting the poem, which recently went viral on social media, contains a portion where he says, “Kanwar leke mat jana, tum gyan ka deep jalana, manavta ke seva karke tum sachche manav ban jaana [Don’t get pots of holy water from the Ganga, light the lamp of knowledge, become a true human by serving humanity].”

Sharing the video of Mr. Gangwar reciting the poem, former U.P. Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said in a post on X in Hindi, “The greatest religion is that which leads us on the path of humanity.”

Attacking the ruling BJP, Congress leader Anil Yadav said that while the Constitution promotes scientific thinking, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry among citizens, which Mr. Gangwar was trying to promote through his verse, elements in the State government aim to encourage “superstition and irrationality and suppress voices”.

Meanwhile, in a purported video on Tuesday, Mr. Gangwar said his poem was meant to educate students, and his intention was not to express negative sentiments about the yatra. “If you listen to the whole poem, it was recited to educate children and tell them about incidents happening related to kanwariyas.”

He also dared the police to take action against senior National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leader and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party president O.P. Rajbhar over his purported comments from 2021: “No one can become a doctor or an engineer from among the kanwariyas. Kanwar Yatra is meant only for unemployed people.” At the time, Mr. Rajbhar, an MLA from Zahoorabad, was part of the Opposition. He joined the ruling NDA in 2023 and is currently a Minister in the State Cabinet.