Senior Samajwadi Party leader and former UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya has yet again made provocative statements, this time targeting Hindu saints. Defaming Hindu saints, Maurya termed them ‘Atankis’ and Jallad.
Earlier, the SP leader sparked controversy alleging that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas ‘insult’ a large section of society on the basis of caste. He then demanded that these be ‘banned’.
“If there is any insult to a section of society due to certain lines in the Ramcharitmanas 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,” he had said.
Considered a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Pradesh, Swami Prasad Maurya stuck to his stand saying he had spoken about a particular verse in Ramcharitmanas and not about Lord Ram or any religion. He refused to retract the statement triggering a row which has embarrassed his party.
He also said that he had made in his personal capacity and not as a member of the Samajwadi Party. Maurya had claimed that 80 per cent of the people on social media were with him.
On Tuesday, an FIR was filed against the former cabinet minister over the controversial remarks on ‘Ramcharitmanas’.
The case against Maurya was filed at the Hazratganj police station for allegedly outraging religious feelings with his remarks on Ramcharitmanas.
The FIR was filed based on a complaint by one Shivendra Mishra, a resident of Aishbagh locality in in Lucknow.
