Bihar minister snubbed by own as he talks Ramcharitmanas in House again

Giving the government reply on the education department budget, the minister started off with his observations on Ramcharitmanas, citing from a copy he was carrying, and continued despite repeated interjections from Chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur, who asked him to stick to the subject.

A day after he defended his controversial statements on Ramcharitmanas amid opposition BJP’s walkout in the state assembly, Bihar’s education minister Chandrashekhar was Tuesday snubbed by the members of his own party RJD and ally JD-U, besides the Chair, when he started his speech in the legislative council with observations on the epic.

Bihar education minister Prof. Chandrashekhar interacts with the media outside the Assembly on Tuesday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

Giving the government reply on the education department budget, the minister started off with his observations on Ramcharitmanas, citing from a copy he was carrying, and continued despite repeated interjections from Chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur, who asked him to stick to the subject.

However, when the minister did not pay heed to Chair’s three interruptions, Thakur asked him to table his speech and proceeded further to end the day’s proceedings in the absence of BJP members, who had moved out in protest against suspension of an MLA in the assembly.

“You are not speaking on the educational scenario or on the budget. The entire debate is on education, but you are speaking on something else. It cannot go on like this,” the Chair told the minister.

Earlier, JD-U member Neeraj Kumar said legislature is not the place to discuss religious texts and it would be better if the minister sticks to the larger issue of how a poor state would be able to implement the new education policy, which is posing a challenge to the right to education and opening the gates for digital education and foreign universities. “Discussion on religious texts would be an endless exercise, as they can have myriad interpretations,” he said.

RJD’s Sunil Singh also said it was important to stick to education, as the debate was on its department budget. “We are not here to listen to this discourse,” he said.

Late last year, Chandrashekhar had triggered a row with his comments that parts of Ramcharitmanas had caste overtones that were derogatory.