Photocopied Pages From Hindu Epic Ramcharitmanas Burnt In Protest In UP

A group called Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha on Sunday in Vrindavan burned photocopies of pages allegedly carrying "objectionable comments on women and Dalits" in Ramcharitmanas, supporting SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya.

The protest was held in Vrindavan Yojana sector apparently in solidarity with Maurya, who had on January 22 in a statement said the Hindu epic contained passages discriminatory of women and shudras.

"As reported in a section of media that we had burnt copies of Ramcharitmanas, it is incorrect to say that. We took out the photocopies of the objectionable comments from the Ramcharitmanas, which were against the 'shudras' and women, and burned the photocopied page in a symbolic protest," Devendra Pratap Yadav, a state office bearer of the Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha, told PTI.

"Swami Prasad Maurya has already demanded that the objectionable comments mentioned in the Ramcharitmanas should be removed or banned. The government did not take any step in this regard. We have extended support to Swami Prasad Maurya on this, and the Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha stands with Swami Prasad Maurya," he said.

Ramcharitmanas, an epic poem in Awadhi language, is based on the Ramayana and has been composed by 16th-century Bhakti movement poet Tulsidas.

"We stand united with him as far as his statement and the move is concerned," Yadav said, and added that the group will continue to stage such protests in future.

Maurya, a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Pradesh, had kicked up a controversy by alleging that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas "insult" a large section of society on the basis of caste and demanded that these be "banned." Maurya, who was a cabinet minister in the BJP government, had resigned and joined the Samajwadi Party before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

He had contested from the Fazilnagar assembly seat in Kushinagar district but lost. He was later sent to the legislative council by SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

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