On Sunday, January 29, Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha burnt the copies of Ramcharitmanas written by poet and saint Tulsidas in the Vrindavan Yojana of the PGI Kotwali area of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The OBC Mahasabha members announced their support to Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya who recently stirred controversy by saying that the Ramcharitmanas should be banned.
In the viral video, the protesting OBC Mahasabha members alleged that the holy Hindu scripture contains several Chaupai (verses) against women and the Shudras. The video has since gone viral on social media.
Copies of Shri Ramcharitmanas are being burnt Publically in Lucknow.
— The Analyzer (News Updates🗞️) (@Indian_Analyzer) January 29, 2023
Slap every Samajwadi who cries for FoE since today.
Action needed .@Uppolice .@myogiadityanath Ji🙏pic.twitter.com/q7iu1htgdS
This comes after Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya claimed that certain portions of the Ramcharitmanas “insult” a large section of society on the basis of caste and demanded that these be “banned”.
On January 22, Maurya, while speaking to a news channel, said that Ramcharitamanas, written by Goswami Tulsidas in the 17th century, promoted social discrimination and spread hatred.
“Religion is meant for the welfare of humanity and for strengthening it. If there is any insult to a section of society due to certain lines in the Ramcharitamanas on the basis of ‘jaati’, ‘varn’ and ‘varg’, then it is certainly not ‘dharma’, it is ‘adharma’. There are certain lines in which names of castes such as ‘teli’ and ‘kumhaar’ are mentioned,” said the SP leader. He added that Tulsidas wrote the book for his own pleasure while demanding a ban on the “objectionable portions” of the Ramcharitmanas.
On January 24, an FIR under sections 153A, 295A, 298, 504, 505(2) of the IPC was registered against Swami Prasad Maurya in connection with his remarks on Ramcharitramanas.
The Samajwadi Party leader again sparked controversy on January 27 by calling Hindu seers as ‘Aatanki’, ‘Mahashaitan’, and ‘Jallad’.
In a tweet posted on January 27 in Hindi, the SP leader wrote, “Recently, some religious contractors have declared a reward for those who cut my tongue and head; if someone else had said the same thing, the same contractor would have called him a terrorist, but now these saints, mahants, religious leaders, and caste-specific leaders have declared a reward for those who cut my tongue and head. What do you call such people aatanki, mahashaitan or jallads.”
अभी हाल में मेंरे दिये गये बयान पर कुछ धर्म के ठेकेदारों ने मेरी जीभ काटने एवं सिर काटने वालों को इनाम घोषित किया है, अगर यही बात कोई और कहता तो यही ठेकेदार उसे आतंकवादी कहते, किंतु अब इन संतों, महंतों, धर्माचार्यों व जाति विशेष लोगों को क्या कहा जाए आतंकवादी, महाशैतान या जल्लाद।
— Swami Prasad Maurya (@SwamiPMaurya) January 27, 2023
It is notable that Swami Prasad Maurya had courted controversy back in 2017 as well when there was a national debate going on around the regressive practice of Triple Talaq (banned in 2019). At that time, Maurya made controversial remarks about Muslims when he said that Muslim men use triple talaq to satisfy their lust by changing wives.
“These talaqs have no basis. If someone only for satisfying his lust keeps changing his wives and forces his own wife and children to beg on the streets, then no one will call this as right,” Maurya had said back then.
