Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) veteran and leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Jitendra Awhad courted a massive controversy after he claimed that Lord Ram used to eat meat and he belongs to ‘Bahujans’. Now he has come forward with an apology amid the row and expressed regret over his statement. He acknowledged that mistakes are occasionally committed and stated that he didn’t want to aggravate the situation.
However, Awhad claimed that Valkimi’s Ramayana consists of many sections including one on Ayodhya and there is a mention of his assertion in verse number 102. He mentioned that he cited from the authentic version published in 1891 which was printed in Kolkata and IIT Kanpur did extensive analysis on it. He argued, “I don’t say anything without research but I don’t want to exacerbate the issue. A lot of individuals have been hurt. I respect people’s sentiments and apologise if someone has been offended by my comment. I am sorry. Sometimes mistakes happen.”
Awhad announced that he isn’t scared of any legal complaints and further accused, “Those who cannot talk logically will talk about cases against me, but those who chant ‘Ram Ram’, I want to tell them that Ram stays in our hearts.” However, he was adamant that he quoted from the sacred scriptures.
#WATCH | On his "non-vegetarian" comment on Lord Ram, NCP-Sharad Pawar faction leader Jitendra Awhad says, "I express regret. I did not want to hurt anyone's sentiments." pic.twitter.com/wFIAXQXAKb
— ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2024
“Ram is ours. Ram belongs to the Bahujans. Ram who hunts and eats is ours. We belong to the Bahujans. When you people go to make us all vegetarian, we follow the ideals of Ram and today we eat mutton. This is the ideal of Ram. Ram was not a vegetarian, he was a non-vegetarian,” the politician from the party’s Sharad Pawar group had declared at a program in Shirdi on 3rd January. “Where would a person living in the forest for 14 years go to find vegetarian food? Is it correct or not (question to the public)? Tell me when I am telling the truth,” he added.
The former minister in the state cabinet only credited Jawahar Lala Nehru and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi with spearheading India’s liberation movement. “No matter what someone says, the truth is that we got independence only because of Gandhi and Nehru. Gandhiji was not assassinated in 1947, but the first attack on him took place in 1935, the second attack took place in 1938 and the third attack took place in 1942. After all, why did they attack him so many times,” he questioned and claimed, “He (Gandhi) didn’t care about time. He didn’t even care about the Constitution. But he was attacked because Gandhiji was a tradesman and an OBC (Other Backward Class). The fact that the leader of such a big independence movement was an OBC was not acceptable to them (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh).”
A few days before the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on 22nd January, his comments prompted severe condemnation from the Bharatiya Janata Party which also submitted a complaint against him for making objectionable remarks against Lord Ram. BJP MLA Ram Kadam stated that if Balasaheb Thackeray had been alive, the Saamana newspaper of the Shiv Sena would have questioned the NCP leader’s statement. “However, at present the party is indifferent to such sentiments outside of election seasons when they promote Hindutva,” Ram Kadam added.
यदी आज स्वर्गीय बाळासाहेब होते
— Ram Kadam (@ramkadam) January 4, 2024
… तो आज का सामना अखबार.. भगवान राम कॊ मांसाहारी केहने वालो कॊ कडे बोल सुनाता.. तिखा प्रहार करता.. उनपर टूट पडता..
पर.. आज क्या वास्तव क्या हैं.. उबाटा कॊ भगवान राम कॊ कोई भी कुछ कहे… हिन्दुओ का कोई मजाक बनाये
उन्हे कोई फर्क नही पडता..…
The chief priest of Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, Acharya Satyendra Das, disputed the claims. “What NCP leader Jitendra Awhad is speaking is completely false. It isn’t written anywhere in our scriptures that Lord Ram had non-vegetarian food during his exile. It’s written that he used to have fruits”, he added.
