On Sunday, 17th March, a special MP-MLA court in Lucknow directed the Wazirganj police station to register a First Information Report (FIR) against Swami Prasad Maurya, the former leader of the Samajwadi Party for hurting Hindu sentiments by disparaging the Goddess Lakshmi. The investigation into the ex-general secretary of the Samajwadi Party for his remarks to the media and on social media was ordered by Special Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ambrish Kumar Srivastava.
According to the complainant, Ragini Rastogi, Maurya’s statement that appeared in publications on 15th November of last year offended the feelings of millions of Hindus. Swami Prasad Maurya, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), mocked how could Goddess Lakshmi have four hands as people of all religions were born with two hands and two legs.at birth. The complainant asserted that he had insulted Hindu emotions on multiple occasions by expressing similar sentiments.
On 12th November, Swami Prasad Maurya triggered outrage after he issued demeaning comments against Goddess Lakshmi on the occasion of Diwali. He claimed, “If all children born in the world have two hands, two feet, two ears, and two eyes, how can Goddess Lakshmi have four hands? On the occasion of the festival of lights, while worshipping and honouring my wife, I want to emphasise that every child born in the world, regardless of religion, caste, race, colour, or country, is born with two hands, two feet, two ears, two eyes, a nose with two nostrils, and one head, stomach, and back,” in a tweet.
He added, “A child with four hands, eight hands, ten hands, twenty hands, or a thousand hands has never been born. So how can a four-handed Lakshmi be born? If you truly want to worship Goddess Lakshmi, honour and worship the women in your households who are the true embodiment of the goddess. They faithfully fulfil the responsibilities of nurturing and caring for the family’s well-being, prosperity, sustenance, and overall welfare.”
The controversial politician has a long record of uttering similar statements. He recently ridiculed Hindus and disparaged the Pran Pratishtha or consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya which was held on 22nd January in front of hundreds of dignitaries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He denigrated the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Vishva Hindu Parishad, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in his speech before the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
Swami Prasad Maurya called Lord Ram “lifeless” during his vile tirade against the auspicious occasion and added that the ceremony was “unnecessary.”
He alleged, “They have taken a lot of credit for Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla. It appears as if there was no Lord Ram before the Bharatiya Janta Party government. On one hand, it is stated that millions of people worship Lord Ram and the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to hurt the sentiments of all those people by pretending as if they are the ones who brought Lord Ram. However, everyone knows that Lord Ram has been worshipped here for thousands of years and if that is the case then how does the question of Pran Pratishtha arise?”
