LUCKNOW: Launching a scathing attack on Samajwadi Party amid the ongoing controversy over epic ‘Ramcharitmanas’ courted by its MLC Swami Prasad Maurya, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati cautioned the main opposition party against demeaning the deprived and downtrodden sections by calling them ‘shudra’.
Maurya, who has recently been appointed national general secretary in the reconstituted executive body of SP, flagged some verses from the Hindu epic as “anti-backward and anti-women” seeking their removal from the scripture.
In a series of tweets on Friday, the BSP chief said that the scriptures like ‘Ramcharitmanas’ or ‘Manusmriti’ were not for the weaker and neglected sections of society. Rather the Constitution of India, framed by Dr BR Ambedkar, was for them where they were referred to as SC/ ST and OBC instead of ‘shudra’.
“So, the Samajwadi Party should neither demean them by calling them ‘shudra’ nor violate the Constitution,” tweeted the BSP chief.
She further claimed that like other states, in UP also, Congress, BJP and SP had been competing with each other in exploiting and doing injustice to the members and the icons coming from SC/ST and OBC sections of society.
“They have been using these sections only as the vote bank,” she said. Moreover, Mayawati re-introduced the infamous ‘Guest House episode’ of Lucknow in the discourse. She reminded SP chief Akhilesh Yadav of the incident of June 2, 1995, when she was attacked and manhandled by dozens of SP workers at Lucknow State Guest House.
Then Mulayam Singh Yadav was heading the SP-BSP coalition government in the state as CM. “The SP chief should recall the ‘guest house kand’ when the SP workers had attacked the ‘daughter of Dalit’ (referring to herself) who was about to become the UP CM. He needs introspection before being seen as advocating the cause of deprivation,” tweeted Mayawati.
She went on to state that it was a well-known fact that only BSP had been protecting the self-esteem and honour of SC/ST, OBC and religious minorities. “Rest of the parties keep on doing the drama of supporting these sections for their votes,” she tweeted.
Meanwhile, the SP MLC came under attack by the women leaders of his own party on Friday. Two national spokespersons of SP—Dr Richa Singh and Dr Roli Tiwari Mishra – attacked the SP MLC over his tirade against Ramcharitmanas. While Dr Richa Singh shared an earlier video featuring Maurya and claimed that while he was out of the party, he was giving statements against it, now he had come up with a deal to destroy the party while being in it.
On the other Dr Roli Tiwari Mishra sought the UP government to invoke National Security Act (NSA) against Maurya alleging that he was trying to incite a caste conflagration and civil war in the country. Calling Swami Prasad Maurya a traitor and seeking strict action against him, Dr Roli Tiwari Mishra challenged the SP MLC for a religious debate saying if she was defeated she would quit politics.