Taking Mohan Bhagwat on after his remark that all people are equal before God, Samajwadi Party leaders have asked the RSS chief to clarify the ground reality of the caste system and get "casteist" comments removed from Ramcharitmanas.
At a public event in Mumbai Sunday, Mr Bhagwat had said everyone is equal in the eyes of God. "All these things were created by priests, which is wrong," he said.
Mr Bhagwat's comment came against the backdrop of the controversy triggered by SP's Swami Prasad Maurya after he recently demanded the "removal” of portions from Hindu epic Ramcharitmanas that he said denigrated Dalits and women.
Reacting to Mr Bhagwat's remarks that caste doesn't exist before God, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted in Hindi on Monday, “Please clarify what is the reality of the caste system before human beings." While Mr Yadav limited himself to this comment, Mr Maurya reiterated his demand to expunge the "offending" portions from Ramcharitmanas.
"By saying that the caste system was created by pundits (Brahmins), RSS chief Bhagwat has exposed the so-called contractors of religion and frauds who abuse women, tribals, Dalits and the backward in the guise of religion. Come forward at least now to remove objectionable comments in Ramcharitmanas," Mr Maurya, who is a party general secretary, tweeted earlier in Hindi.
Unless this statement was made under compulsion, he should show courage and ask the government to get “caste-indicative” words that “insult” such sections removed, the Other Backward Class leader said.
Mr Maurya was cabinet minister in the previous BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, but resigned and joined the SP before the 2022 assembly polls.
He lost the election for the Fazilnagar seat in Kushinagar district but was later sent to the legislative council by his new party.
At least two FIRs have been lodged against him in UP after his comments on Ramcharitmanas -- including a case registered after some OBC protesters burned photocopies of extracts from the sacred book.
Uttar Pradesh has invoked the stringent National Security Act against two of these protesters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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