Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha burnt the copies of Ramcharitmanas penned by poet and saint Tulsidas in the Vrindavan Yojana of the PGI police station area of the city on Sunday. The OBC Mahasabha members announced their support to Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently raked up a controversy stating that the Ramcharitmanas should be banned. In the viral video, the protesting OBC Mahasabha members alleged that the holy Hindu scripture contains several Chaupai (verses) against women and the Shudras. The video has since gone viral on social media.
Also read: Bageshwar Dham head Pandit Dhirendra Shastri arrives in Haridwar for three-day Uttarakhand tour
This comes after Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya claimed that certain portions of the Ramcharitmanas “insult” a large section of society on the basis of caste and demanded that these be “banned”. On January 22, Maurya, while speaking to a news channel, said that Ramcharitamanas, written by Tulsidas in the 17th century, promoted social discrimination and spread hatred.
On January 24, an FIR under sections 153A, 295A, 298, 504, 505(2) of the IPC was registered against Swami Prasad Maurya in connection with his remarks on Ramcharitramanas. Earlier, on Saturday Maurya also met party President Akhilesh Yadav at SP's party office and discussed the caste-based survey. Maurya reached the SP office around noon and held a meeting with Yadav for about 90 minutes.
