Om Prakash Rajbhar (born 15 September 1962) is an Indian politician and president of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). He is a member of 18th Legislative Assembly from Zahoorabad constituency of Uttar Pradesh.
Personal life
Rajbhar was born on 15 September 1962 to Sannu Rajbhar in the city of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He graduated from Baldev Degree College, Badagaon, Varanasi in 1983. Rajbhar married Taramani on 26 April 1979, with whom he has two sons and two daughters. He is an agriculturalist by profession and a resident of Zahoorabad.
Political career
Rajbhar is a member of the 18th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh. Since 2017, he has represented the Zahoorabad and is a member of the SBSP.
On 19 March 2017, Rajbhar became a cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath ministry as the minister of the Department of Backward Classes Welfare and the Department of Disabled People development.
On 20 May 2019, Rajbhar was sacked from Cabinet of Yogi Adityanath due to anti-alliance activities.
In October 2021, Rajbhar announced that his party will form an alliance with Samajwadi Party for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.
In 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election working in alliance with SP, SBSP contested in 17 seats in UP and won 6 seats with party leader Om Prakash Rajbhar in Uttar Pradesh.
Views
In a 2022 interview with The Wire, Rajbhar said he is not a Hindu, and will not join NDA. He questioned whether the construction of the Ram Mandir would get the poor and backward children educated. He also asked BJP to focus more on schools and education rather than mandirs.
Controversy
In 2023, when he was asked to make a comment on the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon, he said, "I thank Indian scientists for their hard work and research. I congratulate them on their achievement with Chandrayaan-3. Once they safely return to Earth tomorrow, the entire country should welcome them". Notably, Chandrayaan-3's flight to the Moon was unmanned, and there was no plan for it to return to the Earth.