On Thursday (4th January), the Malegaon Police in Maharashtra’s Nashik district booked Sushma Andhare from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) for giving a derogatory speech insulting Lord Rama. The Police booked her under section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Team OpIndia has obtained the FIR copy and the video of the hateful speech. As per the FIR copy, the derogatory speech came to light only after the complainant, Aman Pardeshi, saw the speech’s video accidentally on one India TV YouTube channel on 26th December.
In the video, the woman questioned Lord Rama for allegedly not trusting Goddess Sita and sending her into exile. “I don’t want a husband like Lord Rama. Who wants a husband like Lord Rama who showed mistrust of his wife and sent her to exile while she was 7 months pregnant? If people raised questions about Goddess Sita’s character for being in Ravana’s captivity for years, why did nobody question Lord Rama’s character? He was also alone in the jungle while she was held hostage, right?” Andhare said in the speech.
She added that Goddess Sita was sad in Ravana’s captivity but Lord Rama at that time in the jungle was eating half-eaten fruits with Shabri. “Sita didn’t raise questions then? Neither did the society. Lord Rama has set the standard of demeaning women since then and treating them worse than lower caste people. I won’t worship such a man,” she said, as mentioned in the FIR.
The FIR further states that the accused Uddhav Sena leader also used derogatory words about Lord Krishna. She questioned why people worship Lord Krishna even when he ‘molested’ women during his life. “He (Lord Krishna) used to watch women while they showered, he used to steal their clothes and molest them in the markets,” she said as mentioned in the FIR.
The complainant demanded strict punishment against the accused.
It is to be noted that Andhare belongs to the Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena. Earlier, party leader Sanjay Raut had shown disrespect towards the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya scheduled to take place on 22nd January. He had called the ceremony a private event by BJP and also had said that there was no devotion in the event.
“This is all politics, who wants to attend an event by the BJP? This is not a national event. This is BJP’s program, this is BJP’s rally. ‘Usme pavitrata kahan hai?’…We will visit (Ayodhya) after BJP’s program is over,” Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut was quoted as saying.
Also, NCP’s Jitendra Awhad had courted a massive controversy after he claimed that Lord Ram used to eat meat and he belonged to ‘Bahujans’. “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,” Awhad said while addressing an event in Maharashtra’s Shirdi on Wednesday.
However, later he apologized for hurting religious sentiments but stated that he stands by his statement and there are mentions of Lord Ram eating meat in the Valmiki Ramayan. NCP, Shiv Sena, and Congress are in coalition in Maharashtra and none of these party members seem to be happy ahead of the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya scheduled to take place on 22nd January.
