Ramcharitmanas row: Baghel slams SP, BJP, reminds them of Vinoba Bhave’s advice
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday slammed both the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh for the recent controversy over Tulsidas’ epic Ramcharitmanas, accusing the parties of playing “vote-bank politics”
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday slammed both the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh for the recent controversy over Tulsidas’ epic Ramcharitmanas, accusing the parties of playing “vote-bank politics”.
SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya had kicked up a row on January 22 when he alleged that certain verses in the Ramcharitmanas insulted a large section of the society on the basis of caste. He also demanded a ban on those verses. BJP leaders and some seers have criticised Maurya over the remarks.
“Whatever controversy is going on regarding the Ramcharitmanas, it is all for votes. The controversy is pleasing the Samajwadi Party (SP) as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It is pleasing SP leader Maurya as well as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath,” Baghel told reporters.
Adityanath, in an interview to HT on Thursday, had refused to get drawn into the Ramcharitmanas row but said the people will give opposition parties a befitting response. While development remained his agenda, Hindutva was his soul, he added.
Maurya, in an interview to HT on Friday, said he is happy that a debate is now on across the country on the points flagged by him. He reiterated that it is important to ensure respect for women and Dalits, even if it means repealing a few verses of the Hindu epic.
However, Baghel said that “two or four couplets” do not make any difference to such a great epic.
The senior Congress leader said one must adhere to social reformer Vinoba Bhave’s advice that the merits of any religious book or philosophy must be discussed in the present context. Bhave advised that the basic elements (of the book or philosophy) must be discussed and its subtle facts must be accepted after consideration, he added.
“This controversy is wrong. Ramcharitmanas was written 650 years ago by Tulsidas while Valmiki had written it much earlier. There is no need to accept it as it is written in the current situation. You should accept good things from Ramayana and the things you don’t like, leave it,” Baghel said.
Tulsidas had faced opposition at the time for writing Ramcharitmanas in Hindi but he must be credited for taking the epic to every household, he said.
(With PTI, ANI inputs)
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