YouTuber Manish Kashyap, who previously decided to contest Lok Sabha elections from Bihar's Paschim Champaran seat as an independent candidate, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party at the party headquarters in Delhi on Thursday. He was also accompanied by his mother during the joining ceremony.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, who will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Delhi's North East Delhi was present at the party headquarters and welcomed Kashyap to the saffron camp.
"Manish Kashyap has joined the BJP and his mother is also present. He has raised the concerns of the people, always talked in support of Modi ji, but some parties have caused him a lot of pain but BJP has always supported him," Tiwari said.
Following this, Manish Kashyap went on to say that during his time in jail, his mother was fighting and she was well aware of the people who supported them.
"My mother said that Manoj bhaiya's words should not be cut off," he added.
YouTuber Manish Kashyap thanked BJP for the opportunity saying, "Only BJP could have given this honour to the son of a poor family...There are a few parties in Bihar that don't let you even join if you don't approach with full (of cash) suitcases."
"BJP respects the poor, women, a YouTuber, a mother. So, BJP is a different party and that is why it has emerged as the biggest capable party in the world," he added.
Kashyap also stressed that he will keep "working for nationalism as he had always done" and stated that when he used to do it earlier, some parties framed him and got him arrested.
He further said that the only reason he is out of jail is because of the saffron party. "A lot of BJP leaders supported me...If I am safely out of jail today, it is due to the blessings of my mother and the support of BJP leaders," Kashyap said.
Who Is YouTuber Manish Kashyap?
Manish Kashyap, hailing from West Champaran's Muhnawa Dumari village, completed his graduation in civil engineering from Pune in 2016. Thereafter, he started his YouTube channel ‘Sach Tak News’ in 2018, which involved him questioning government officials on problems concerning the common man.
However, he was often caught up in controversies and has several cases lodged against him, for one of which he was arrested for allegedly making and sharing fake videos of Bihari migrants facing harassment in Tamil Nadu.
He had surrendered at the Jagdishpur police station after the Tamil Nadu police and Bihar's Economic Offences Unit (EOU) filed separate cases against him.
After his surrender, he was sent to Madurai jail by the Tamil Nadu police, where he spent over four months. Thereafter, he was brought back to Bihar and sent to Beur jail in Patna.
In May 2023, he approached the Supreme Court with a plea to club all the FIRs against him and requested that all the cases against him be transferred to Patna.
Bihar government also appeared before the apex court and submitted that he was a habitual offender, facing eight criminal cases.
After spending nine months in jail, he was granted bail on December 23, last year after Patna high court granted him bail.
There are several cases registered against Kashyap, one of which was filed against him after he tried using a 2019 photo of his arrest in another case related to the fake attack on migrants.
In 2019, Kashyap was arrested twice for allegedly damaging the statue of King Edward VII in Bettiah. He was subsequently arrested for allegedly thrashing a Kashmiri shopkeeper in Lhasa Market in Patna after the Pulwama attack.
While in jail, Manish Kashyap also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but his nomination was canceled. He then contested the Assembly election from West Champaran's Chanpatia constituency in 2020 as an Independent candidate, finishing third.
The BJP has held the Chanpatia since 2000 and retained the seat with Umakant Singh securing 83,828 votes in the 2020 Bihar assembly elections.
Kashyap has openly described himself as a supporter of PM Modi and stated his desire to free the Bihar constituency from the spell of dynastic politics that has gripped it.
Earlier, he had announced to file his nomination paper from Paschim Champaran Lok Sabha seat on April 30.
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