LucknowHitting back at the Ramcharitmanas controversy in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday targeted the Samajwadi Party and said what would have happened if religious texts of other religions and faiths were insulted. Yogi also accused the party of trying to “insult” the Hindu community in India and around the world, and of creating controversy during the Congress. Global Investors Summit Which concluded in Lucknow earlier this month.
Will mix the mafias in the soil… pic.twitter.com/GgrXXRa5li— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) February 25, 2023
‘What if the same thing happens to any other religion’: Yogi Adityanath
“When the Global Investors Summit was about to begin, the Samajwadi Party started the Ramcharitmanas row about Tulsi Das ji. Some people tried to tear down the Ramcharitmanas. What if the same thing happened with any other religion? Means any Bhi ho want to insult Hindus, can you? You want to insult the entire (Hindu) community,” he said during his address to the ongoing budget session.
Baba Ba in UP. pic.twitter.com/FVvUNHgu85
– Yogi Adityanath Office (@myogioffice) February 25, 2023
The Chief Minister read out the lines from the Hindu scriptures and explained the meaning of the words.
“Shudra means working class. Ambedkar ji also said not to call Dalit community Shudra. Your behavior towards Ambedkar is well known. Organizations were renamed after him. Nari means woman. Are you insulting Hindus? Not doing.” Living in India and the world by burning Ramcharitmanas?” he asked.
Controversy over Ramcharitmanas
Yogi’s remarks come after Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya courted a major controversy after he sought removal of “derogatory comments and sarcasm” targeted at particular castes and sects in the Ramcharitmanas, a poem based on the epic Ramayana.
Maurya had claimed that the Ramcharitmanas composed by Tulsidas contained words that hurt the sentiments of the Dalit community. On January 30, Maurya also taunted Mahant Raju Das, saying that instead of getting him killed by spending Rs 21 lakh, he could only be cursed.
Maurya had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking amendment and banning of parts of the epic which she claimed were derogatory to women and Dalits. “To modify/ban certain objectionable portions of certain couplets of Ramcharitmanas in which all women, tribals, dalits and backward castes are insulted on a daily basis at social, and religious level and to pay respect to the oppressed class, the President and A letter has been sent to the Prime Minister,” Maurya had tweeted in Hindi.