Ramcharitmanas row: 'Those demanding a ban are illiterate,' says Bihar independent MLC

After back-to-back attacks on Ramcharitmanas and objections over the message it sends out, Maheshwar Singh, independent MLC, gave a bold speech criticising those demanding a ban on the Hindu religious text.

Addressing a crowd at the 'Rashtriya Swabhiman Divas 2023' in Bihar's Patna, he said those demanding a ban on Ramcharitmanas are illiterate and must be punished. 

"Some people demanding to ban 'Ramcharitmanas'...such people are eunuchs...they’re uneducated and brainless. They should be punished for insulting it," the Bihar MLC was heard saying. 

#WATCH | | Some people demanding to ban 'Ramcharitmanas'...such people are eunuchs...they’re uneducated & brainless. They should be punished for insulting it: Maheshwar Singh, independent MLC, at Patna, Bihar pic.twitter.com/SxlDcHcnVq

— ANI (@ANI)

"Ramcharitmanas teaches what is Kshatriya dharma. How our relationship with parents, brothers, spouse, teachers should be and the illiterates speaking against it must be punished for this," Singh said. 

Politicisation of Ramcharitmanas

The politicisation of Ramcharitmanas began with controversial statements by Bihar's education minister Chandrashekhar who said that the religious text as well as 'Manusmriti' and M.S. Golwalkar's book 'Bunch of Thoughts' spread hate and promote illiteracy among lower castes.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader faced severe backlash for his statements and Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam even demanded an FIR against him. RJD supremo and Bihar's Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav defended his minister saying this is an attempt by the BJP to distract from 'real issues'.

This was followed by the Samajwadi Party's Swami Prasad Maurya who said that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas insult lower caste people as well as women and must be changed. "In Tulsidas Ji's Ramcharitmanas, there are some parts wherein objectionable comments have been made on certain class of people," Maurya told Republic TV. "I object to the insulting comments." Maurya also said that Tulsidas insulted the entire female community by mentioning them in the same sentence containing the word 'animals' and that he was against educating women.