Sacked BSF jawan, who complained about bad food, to contest against Modi from Varanasi

Lucknow, Mar 30: Tej Bahadur Yadav, former BSF jawan who was sacked for highlighting the poor quality of food served to soldiers on social media, has said he will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Tej Bahadur Yadav has said he will fight the polls from the Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Hindustan Times has reported.

My motive is not to win or lose. It is to highlight how this government has failed the forces, especially paramilitary forces. PM Modi seeks votes in the name of our jawans but has done nothing for them. Our paramilitary jawans (CRPF men) killed recently in Pulwama were not even given martyr status by this government," he said.

In 2017, Yadav had posted four videos on Facebook complaining about the unpalatable food at his camp along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir. Yadav had further alleged that the senior officials illegally sold off the food supplies meant for the troopers.

The videos triggered outrage across the nation, but the BSF dismissed his allegations.

In 2018, the BSF commissioned an inquiry into the state of the food served to the Armed Forces, which later claimed that "97 per cent of BSF personnel" were satisfied with their meals.

He was later sacked after a three-month-long proceeding at a summary court-martial held in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district.