Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s proposed visit to Dadri to unveil a statue of north Bharat’s 9th century ruler Mihir Bhoj, has drawn the ire of Rajputs who have warned of a nation-wide agitation if he goes ahead with the visit.

The chief minister is scheduled to visit Dadri on September 22 to unveil the statue of Mihir Bhoj, said to be a Gurjar leader.

Mahendra Singh Tanwar, the national president of Akhil Bhartiya Kshatriya Mahasabha, said, “We have heard that the chief minister is going to inaugurate a statue of Samrat Mihir Bhoj. We do not have any problem with that, but if Mihir Bhoj is being associated with Gurjars, then it is an attempt to distort history because he belonged to the Kshatriya Rajput community and he was not a Gurjar. The chief minister should stay away from such events.”

Tejpal Nagar, the BJP legislator from Dadri, in a statement, said, that Mihir Bhoj was an ancestor of Gurjars.

Tanwar said that similar attempts had been made in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand to discredit Rajputs from their ancestry.

“Samrat Mihir Bhoj was a Kshatryia Rajput. We are over two crore strong voters in Uttar Pradesh and have been a traditional voter of BJP, but such attempts will not have a positive impact on the community,” he pointed out.

Rakesh Singh Raghuvanshi, the state president of the Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena, said, “Samrat Mihir Bhoj was known as Gurjar-Pratihar Samrat. His caste was Pratihar, which is a Rajput clan, and Gurjar was the name of the area where the current state of Gujrat is and it has nothing to do with any other caste. The chief minister should stay away from such vicious propaganda. The government must understand that our legacy is important.”

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline)