Samajwadi Party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya Banned From Lucknow Temple, Booked Over Ramcharitmanas Remarks

Samajwadi Party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday was banned by a temple in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow following the controversial remarks made by him against Ramcharitmanas.

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday was banned by a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow following the controversial remarks made by him against Ramcharitmanas. A case has also been registered against Swami Prasad Maurya in Lucknow’s Hazratganj police station over the controversial remarks.

Posters against Swami Prasad Maurya were also put up outside the Hanuman Mandir (temple) near Pakka Pur area in Lucknow. Maurya, considered a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Pradesh had on Sunday sought a ban on the work composed by the 16-century poet-saint Tulsidas alleging that Dalits and women have been “insulted” in the epic poem based on the Ramayana.

UP | Lucknow’s Lete Hanuman Ji temple administration bans the entry of SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya in the temple over his remarks on ‘Ramcharitramanas’

A person who doesn’t have a belief in religion should not be allowed at a religious site: Dr Vivek Tangri, Director pic.twitter.com/z6aV0tNanF

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 24, 2023

Speaking to ANI, the SP leader said, “I don’t have any issue with Ramcharitramanas but parts of it have insulting comments and sarcasm directed at particular castes and sects. Those should be removed.”

Maurya’s statement triggered a row with the Uttar Pradesh BJP hitting out at the Samajwadi Party. The Ahkilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party also distanced itself from the remarks made by party leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who stated that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas promoted social discrimination and spread hatred.

SP veteran Ravidas Mehrotra has said that Maurya’s remarks were made out of “ignorance” and is not the party’s line and the Samajwadi Party respected all religious texts and religions. “It is personal views and has nothing to do with the party. This statement by Maurya has been given just out of ignorance. He has no knowledge that the verse of Ramcharitmanas, he was referring, has a different meaning,” Mehrotra.