A day after Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Swami Prasad Maurya alleged that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas promoted social discrimination, a local leader of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha♔ on Monday announced Rs 51,00🔯0 as reward to anyone who would "cut off" his tongue.
Maurya, who is considered a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Prades🌳h, had said certain portions of the Ramcharitmanas "insult" a large section of society on the basis of caste and demanded that these be "banned".
"Any courageous person, if they cut off the tongue of SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, would be rewarded with a Rs 51,000 cheque. He has insulted our religious text and hurted the sentiments of Hindus💞," the mahasabha's district in-charge Saurabh Sharma s𓂃aid.
Members of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) carried a symbolic proces🍌sion of Maurya, burnt his effigy and threw it into the Yamuna river.
Talking to PTI, ABHM national spokesp꧙erson Sanjay Jat said, "We object to the derogatory remark made by SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya."
"When the former cabinet minister was in the BSP, hಌe used to say 'Jay Bhim, Jai Bharat', and when he joined the BJP he began respecting the Ramcharitmanas, and now, when he has joined the Samajwadi Party, he has made objectionable remarks against the Ramcharitmanas," he said.
"We protested against his remark and carried out a mock funeral procession of the SP leader and later burn𒀰t his effigy and dumped it into the Yamuna at Rambagh," Jat said.
A member of the legislative council in Uttar Pradesh, Maurya had said that "there 🐎are certain lines (in the Ramcharitmanas) in which names of castes such as 'teli' and 'kumhaar' are mentioned" and because of these "the feeling🍸s of lakhs of people hailing from these castes have been hurt".
