The Lucknow Police has booked 10 people for promoting enmity after members Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha allegedly burnt photocopied pages of Ramcharitmanas in Vrindavan, area of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
The FIR was registered on a complaint lodged by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Satnam Singh Lavi. The FIR has been lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
“The case has been filed against 10 named and several unidentified people at the PGI police station. No one has been arrested till now,” said SHO Brijesh Kumar Yadav.
According to reports, the members of Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha burned “photocopies” of pages allegedly carrying “objectionable comments on women and Dalits” in Ramcharitmanas in support of Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya.
The accused named by Satnam Singh in his FIR are Yashpal Singh Lodhi, Devendra Yadav, Mahendra Pratap Yadav, Naresh Singh, SS Yadav, Sujit, Santosh Verma and Salim.
Swami Prasad Maurya had recently caused a row when he raised objections to certain verses from the book and termed them “against the women, backwards and Dalits”.
On January 22, the Samajwadi Party leader, 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, and 505 (2) of the IPC was registered against Maurya for his remarks on Ramcharitramanas.
Swami Prasad Maurya, on his remark, said, “I respect all religions. I merely objected to certain verses in Ramcharitmanas which hurts the sentiments of 97 per cent of Hindus. Those verses reflect poorly on our own religion. They also advocate killing women and the Shudras. This is nothing but abuse and no religion should stand for such abuse and insult.”
धर्म की दुहाई देकर आदिवासियों, दलितों-पिछड़ों व महिलाओं को अपमानित किए जाने की साजिश का विरोध करता रहूँगा, जिस तरह कुत्तों के भौंकने से हाथी अपनी चाल नहीं बदलती उसी प्रकार इनको सम्मान दिलाने तक मैं भी अपनी बात नहीं बदलूंगा।
— Swami Prasad Maurya (@SwamiPMaurya) January 29, 2023
Meanwhile, Swami Prasad Maurya was appointed as the party’s general secretary on January 29 and is now a member of the National Executive.
The 42-member National Executive of the Samajwadi Party includes president Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav, who recently joined the party, Azam Khan, Swami Prasad Maurya, and others.
“Swami Prasad Maurya got his award for insulting the Shri Ramcharitmanas. The Samajwadi Party (SP) wants communal harmony to deteriorate in Uttar Pradesh and wants to create caste conflict. They will not succeed in their plan. Akhilesh Yadav’s anti-Hindu and casteist face is out in the open,” BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said.
On January 28, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav was shown black flags, when he participated in the Maa Pitambara 108 Mahayagya on the banks of the Gomti in Daliganj, as a mark of protest against Swami Prasad Maurya’s statement on Ramcharitmanas.
