Uttar Pradesh’s prominent OBC leader, and now Ex-minister, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) man Swami Prasad Maurya was reportedly asked to appear before the court on December 12, however he did not show up.

Maurya has not yet officially joined the Samajwadi party, though he has met SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav who told mediapersons, “UP is tired of hatred politics, politics of insult and exploitation; UP will see change.” Swami Prasad Maurya had told NDTV that his resignation “caused an earthquake in the BJP” adding that he “only quit as a minister. I will quit the BJP soon. For now, I am not joining the Samajwadi Party.” 

Swami Prasad Maurya resigned from the Yogi-government on January 11, days after the Election Commission announced Assembly elections for the State. He quit along with Roshan Lal Verma, Brijesh Prajapati, Bhagwati Sagar and Vinay Shakya. Maurya declared he had “rejected the BJP… there is no question of going back,” and had reportedly even met Union Home Minister Amit Shah two months ago, about “Adityanath’s style of working.” While it is yet to be seen if the OBC leader joins Akhilesh Yadav and brings the non-Yadav OBC vote to SP, the arrest warrant in a 2014 case has surely added fuel to the issue. 

Polls will be held in seven phases for the mammoth 403-seat UP Assembly from February 10 to March 7. According to news reports, SP Maurya now faces arrest over alleged hate speech and the warrant for his arrest has been put out in Sultanpur just a day after his resignation. He has now reportedly been asked to appear before the court on January 24 in a case of inciting religious hate. The case dates to when he was in Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and he had reportedly said, “Goddess Gauri or Lord Ganesha should not be worshiped during weddings. It is a conspiracy by upper caste-dominated system to mislead and enslave Dalits and backward castes.” 

An earlier warrant for his arrest was put on hold by the Allahabad High Court in 2016 stated news reports, adding that there have been many hearings in the case, the last was on January 6, when a Sultanpur court had asked him to appear on December 12. When he did not, the court renewed his warrant.

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Controversial televangelist Zakir Naik who is wanted by authorities in India for alleged terrorist offences, hate speech and money laundering has been granted Saudi citizenship, the Middle East Monitor has reported.

Saudi King Salman reportedly intervened to grant his country’s citizenship to Naik to protect him from arrest by the International Police Organisation (Interpol) on India’s request.

Last month, Indian courts issued a second arrest warrant for Dr Naik in connection with his alleged role in a terror-related case and over money laundering allegations. Naik, who was on tour at the time, decided not to return to India and remained in Malaysia where permanent residency status was granted to him five years ago by the Malaysian government, according to the Middle East Monitor.

The 51-year-old Muslim supremacist was out of India last year when the authorities began investigations against him, following the disclosure by Bangladesh security agencies that one of the terrorists who had died in the Dhaka bomb blasts in July was inspired by Naik’s preachings.

He had since then refused to come to India despite several attempts by the investigating agencies. Naik stated repeatedly that he was willing to be questioned through Skype but declined from returning to India to face the authorities.

The Enforcement Directorate had moved to get Naik’s Indian passport revoked paving the way for his arrest by Interpol.

The Union Ministry for Home Affairs which had cancelled the FCRA registration of Naik's Islamic Research Foundation last year, also cancelled the FCRA registration of his educational trust last month.

The Saudi citizenship has been granted to him even though well aware that the courts in India had issued an arrest warrant against Naik.

If not the only, it is certainly one of the rare cases where Saudi Arabia has granted citizenship to an Indian national.    
 
 

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