BJP MP triggers row over Maharaj Suheldev caste, writes to President

A letter from the BJP MP from Bansgaon Kamlesh Paswan to President Ram Nath Kovid has triggered a controversy over the caste of Maharaja Suheldev in less than a day after PM Modi laid the foundation stone for his memorial in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh.

In his letter, the BJP claimed the legendary warrior King belonged to Pasi community (dalit) and Rajbhar which was deliberately suffixed in his name by some vested interests.

Ironically, a minister in the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet Anil Rajbhar contradicts

Paswan's claims. The minister said Maharaja Suheldev was Rajbhar and not Pasi.

Maharaja Suheldev is an iconic figure for the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), the BJP’s ally in 2017 Assembly polls. It has been beating the drum the warrior King was a Rajbhar, a backward community.

Rajbhars are in sizeable numbers in Eastern UP and that was the reason BJP had a pre-poll alliance with SBSP which had won 4 seats in the Assembly poll and the party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar was given a cabinet berth. However, he was sacked in 2019 and BJP broke the alliance with the SBSP.

Since then, the BJP has been trying to woo Rajbhars back into party-fold after parting ways with SBSP, which represents them in Eastern UP. The SBSP chief, Om Prakash Paswan, however, maintained Maharaja Suheldev was Rajbhar. He said as per historical texts, Maharaja Suheldev belonged to the Bhar community, a sub-caste of Rajbhars.

Now, the BJP MP’s letter to the President has triggered a controversy by claiming Maharaja Suheldev was a Pasi not Rajbhar. In his letter, he has urged the President to ask the state government to verify history records and archives to confirm the caste, and his name should be read as Maharaja Suheldev Pasi.