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Updated: Dec 29, 2018 00:49 IST

A BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal was caught on camera assaulting a disabled man for allegedly abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath and promising his vote to Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav.

Mohammad Miya is seen hitting the man with a stick on his face in the video, which has been widely shared on social media. The man had allegedly passed a comment against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Vote denge Akhilesh ko (I will vote for Akhilesh),” the man is heard shouting in the video. The BJP leader then abuses him. “Go go, vote. Get out from here,” Miya says.

Yadav was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh before his party was voted out of power in March last year.

Amid criticism, Miya has defended himself saying the man was drunk and he was just trying to make him leave.

“He was abusing Modi ji and Yogi ji. I tried to first explain things, he was drunk. It was a conspiracy to malign the BJP. I was just trying to make him leave the place. I didn’t shove a stick in his mouth,” Miya said, according to news agency ANI.

Police in Sambhal said they have registered a case against Miya.

“The case was registered last night, we have sent our teams to arrest the culprit,” said Sabhal’s circle officer Sudesh Kumar said on Wednesday.