On Saturday, February 25, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath lambasted the Samajwadi Party (SP) over the controversy around Ramcharitmanas and questioned what would have happened if it was about any other religion. CM Yogi during his speech in the state assembly asked what turn the situation would have taken had the scriptures of any other religion been insulted.
“If this had occurred with any other religion, what would have happened given the way some people tried to tear the Ramcharitmanas? Does that imply that everyone who wants to offend Hindus can do so? Whoever wants to interpret Hindu scriptures at their convenience can do. I went to Mauritius and met the Indian diaspora there, I asked them if they have anything that their ancestors left for them, and to this, they said yes we have it at our home, I asked what is it, it was a copy of Ramcharitmanas,” CM Yogi asked.
CM Yogi also taunted Akhilesh Yadav by saying that while power can be inherited, one cannot get wisdom in inheritance. (Virasat mein satta mil sakti hai, buddhi nahi).
➡रामचरितमानस पर बोले सीएम योगी आदित्यनाथ
— भारत समाचार | Bharat Samachar (@bstvlive) February 25, 2023
➡आप पूरे समाज को अपमानित कर रहे हैं – सीएम
➡तुलसी दास ने समाज जोड़ने का काम किया था- CM
➡सपा की ओर से मानस पर टिप्पणी की गई- सीएम
➡कुछ लोगों ने मानस को फाड़ने का काम किया- CM
➡ताड़ने का अर्थ मारना नहीं, देखने से है- सीएम योगी pic.twitter.com/Og8yUITHnA
Apart from this, CM Yogi also explained the meaning of the word ‘taadna’ in “Dhol gawaar shudra pashu nari sakal taadna ke adhikari” chaupai (verse) of the Tuslidas authored Shri Ramcharitmanas which have been targeted by the Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya and his supporters.
Speaking about the chaupai CM Yogi asked a Samajwadi Party leader who understands Awadhi dialect, what ‘taadat’ in the saying “bhaiya etnii der se ekaa taadat raha”, to this the SP leader and others said ‘taadat’ here means ‘seeing’.
This comes after, Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya stirred controversy by making insulting remarks about Shri Ramcharitmanas and sought to remove the alleged objectionable versus from the holy scripture. On January 22, 2023, 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 Tulsidas wrote the book for his own pleasure while demanding a ban on the “objectionable portions” of the Ramcharitmanas.
This was followed by an incident in Lucknow, wherein several members of the OBC Mahasabha burnt a copy of Ramcharitmanas as a mark of support to Maurya, who was faced with severe criticism. Later, a case was registered in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh against Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya and eight others for hurting religious sentiments and disturbing social harmony over his controversial remarks against Ramcharitmanas.
‘Mafia ko mitti mei mila denge’: Yogi Adityanath slams Samajwadi Party for patronising criminals
The issue of the murder of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, triggered a heated debate between BJP and SP in the Uttar Pradesh assembly after CM Yogi Adityanath said that SP was harbouring criminals and mafia in the state. Replying to the motion of thanks to the governor’s address in the assembly on Saturday morning, the CM said that decisive action would be taken against the criminals, saying ‘mafia ko mitti mei mila denge’.
CM Yogi Adityanath accused the party of patronising criminals as the key accused in the Raju Pal murder case are Samajwadi Party leaders. Talking about the Umesh Pal murder, the CM asked, ‘these criminals and these mafias, after all, who harboured them? Is it not true that the mafia against whom the FIR was filed by the victim’s family was made MP by Samajwadi Party?’
‘You will harbour criminals, put garlands on them, and then you create a scene?’ the CM said to the SP MLAs who started to object to his comments. Akhilesh Yadav asked which criminal is a member of which party, and alleged that Yogi Adityanath was not naming Bahujan Samaj Party because BJP has a friendship with BSP. To this, the CM replied by asking that is it not true that Atiq Ahmed, against whom the victim’s family filed the FIR, is not a criminal patronised by the Samajwadi Party.
