Ramcharitmanas Row: Bihar’s Educational Minister and RJD leader Chandrashekhar makes a derogatory remark on Ramcharitmanas, BJP hits back
Bihar Education Minister and RJD leader Chandrashekhar on January 11 cultivated a controversy as he said that Ramcharitmanas, a Hindu religious book based on Ramayana, ‘spreads hatred in society’.
Chandrashekhar made the remarks when he was addressing the 15th convocation ceremony of Nalanda Open University (NOU). Phagu Chouhan, Bihar Governor, was also present at the event.
“Ramcharitmanas was opposed because it said that the lower section of society becomes poisonous if they get educated. Books like Ramcharitmanas, Manusmriti and MS Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts created a social divide,” the RJD leader said.
He further said that “A nation becomes great with love and affection. Books like Ramcharitmanas, Manusmriti and Bunch of Thoughts sowed the seeds of hatred and social divide. This is the reason why people burnt Manusmriti and took exception to a portion of Ramcharitmanas, which talks against education for Dalits, backwards and women”.
A verse in Ramcharitmanas, ‘adham jati me vidya paye, bhayatu yatha dudh pilaye’ means ‘Lower caste people become poisonous after getting education like snake becomes after drinking milk’, he claimed.
RSS is spreading hatred in the country. Ambedkar had burnt the Manusmriti because it talks about depriving Dalits of their rights, Bihar Education minister Chandrashekhar further said.
A few days back, Bihar RJP president Jagdanand Singh called Ram mandir being built at Ayodhya as ‘Nafrat ki zameen’.
“Ram temple is being built on the land of hatred. Ram cannot be imprisoned in a magnificent palace…We are the people who believe in ‘Hey Ram’ and not ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” the Bihar RJD president said.
“This is not Sanyog but Votebank ka Udyog. Will action be taken? RJD bats for PFI, SIMI but abuses HINDU Astha for vote?,” BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla said in a tweet.
Senior BJP MP Subramanian Swamy questioned Chandrasekhar if he will have the same guts to say it for the Quran. “Will they have the same guts to say it for the Quran. We Hindus have many paths to achieve God. It’s a democratic religion, which is perceived as a threat to other faiths,” Swami said.
Reacting to Chandrashekhar’s controversial remarks over Ramcharitmanas, Ayodhya seer Jagadguru Paramhans Acharya has demanded that the Minister should be sacked from his post.
“The way Bihar’s Education Minister has described Ramcharitmanas book as a book that spreads hatred, the whole country is hurt by it, it is an insult to all Sanatanis, and I demand legal action for this statement. That he should be sacked from the post of Minister within a week. And he should apologise,” Jagadguru Paramhans Acharya said.
He further said that such remarks will not be tolerated at all. Ramcharitmanas is a book that connects and not divides. It is a book to establish humanity. It is the form of Indian culture; it is the pride of our country.
Attacking the ruling JD(U) Government, BJP OBC Morcha’s national general secretary and spokesperson, Dr Nikhil Anand, said, “It is most surprising that the Education Minister, while speaking at a university convocation, flaunted his silly opinion based on religious hatred. The RJD is doing politics of Muslim appeasement and that is reflected through such remarks.”
Meanwhile, after all this controversy, Bihar Education Minister Chandrasekhar today said that “Whatever I said is correct. I stand by my statement.”
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