Samajwadi Party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya met party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday amidst row over his remarks on Ramcharitmanas. Refusing to apologise for his remarks on the holy book, Maurya said the party is seeking justice for the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes.
“To provide justice to the SC, ST and backward classes of this country, the party will demand a caste-based census first of all. For this, we will write a letter to the Central government. They (BJP) are slowly abolishing reservation, the only weapon of the tribals, dalits and backward classes. We will not let them exploit us,” Maurya said while talking to mediapersons.
Asked about Akhilesh Yadav’s stand on his Ramcharitmanas remarks, Maurya said, “Akhilesh Yadav is the national president of our party. He will make a statement at the right time.”
Meanwhile, slogans were raised against Akhilesh Yadav by members of the BJP and Hindu Mahasabha. Black flags were also shown to him by the protesters while he visited the Maa Pitambara temple in Lucknow to attend the ‘108th Mahayagya’.
Earlier this month, the SP leader had sparked a major controversy as he demanded deletion of the “insulting comments and sarcasm” targeted at particular castes and sects in Ramcharitmanas, a poem based on the epic Ramayana.
“I don’t have any issue with Ramcharitmanas but parts of it have insulting comments and sarcasm directed at particular castes and sects. These should be removed,” Maurya said. He further claimed that in the Ramcharitmanas, which was composed by Tulsidas, there are words hurting the sentiments of the Dalit community.
“The government should take effective action and show sensitivity. It should see that the sentiments of any community are not hurt,” he added.
While Maurya's remarks gave fresh ammunition to the BJP, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has yet to take a public stand on the remark made by his party MLC. An FIR was filed against the former Cabinet minister over his remarks. The case was registered at the Hazratganj police station for allegedly outraging religious feelings with his remarks.