Amid Row Over Ramcharitmanas, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Remark

Retorting to the Ramcharitmanas row in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday launched attack on the Samajwadi party saying what would have happened if religious scriptures of other religions and faith were insulted.

Yogi Adityanath accused the party of attempting to "insult" the Hindu community in India and across the world, and also of manufacturing the controversy during the Global Investors Summit which concluded in Lucknow earlier this month.

"The moment Global Investors Summit was about to begin, the Samajwadi Party started the Ramcharitmanas row about Tulsi Das ji. Some people tried to tear Ramcharitmanas. What would have happened if the same thing would have happened with some other religion? Does it mean whoever wants to insult Hindus, can do it? You want to insult the entire (Hindu) community," he said during his Address in the ongoing Budget Session.

The Chief Minister read out the lines of the Hindu scripture and explained the meaning of the words.

"Shudra means labour class. Ambedkar ji has also said not to call Dalit community shudra. Your behaviour towards Ambedkar is well known to the world. The names of the organisations under his name were changed. Nari means women. Are you not insulting the Hindus living in India and the world by burning the Ramcharitmanas?" he asked.

His remarks came after Samajwadi Party leader Swamy Prasad Maurya's sparked a major controversy as he demanded the deletion of "insulting comments and sarcasm" targeted at particular castes and sects in Ramcharitmanas, a poem based on the epic Ramayana.

Mr Maurya had claimed that in the Ramcharitmanas, which was composed by Tulsidas, there are words hurting the sentiments of the Dalit community.

On January 30, Mr Maurya has also taken a jibe at Mahant Raju Das by stating that he could have just cursed him instead of spending Rs 21 lakh to get him killed.

Mr Maurya had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding an amendment and ban on parts of the epic which he claimed are disrespectful to women and Dalits.

"For revising/banning some of the objectionable parts of some couplets of Ramcharitmanas in which all women, tribals, Dalits and backward people have to be insulted on a daily basis at the social, and religious level and to give respect to the victim class, a letter has been sent to President and Prime Minister," Mr Maurya had tweeted in Hindi.