Will give Rs 1,100 to anyone who hits SP Maurya with shoes: Kranti Sena leader

State General Secretary of Shiv Sena and Kranti Sena, Manoj Saini, on Wednesday offered Rs 1,100 to anyone who will hit SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya with shoes. “We will give Rs 1100 to the one who will hit Swami Prasad Maurya with his shoes,” Saini said on SP Maurya’s Hinduphobic comments. 

SP Maurya’s controversial comment

Swami Prasad Maurya, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, said in a contentious statement on August 28 that Brahminism's origins are what keep societal inequality alive and that Hinduism is a ruse meant to entrap underprivileged populations within the confines of Brahmin religion.

Taking to the X (formerly Twitter), SP Maurya shared a video with a caption that said, “The roots of Brahminism are very deep and the reason for all the disparity is also Brahminism itself. There is no religion called Hindu, Hinduism is just a hoax. There is a conspiracy to trap the Dalits, tribes, and backward people of this country by calling the same Brahmin religion as Hindu religion, which is actually Brahmin religion. If there was Hindu religion then tribals would have been respected, dalits would have been respected, backward people would have been respected but what an irony…”

A formal complaint was filed against the leader for the said comments.

Congress leader offered Rs 10 lakh to severe tongue

Earlier, a Congress leader in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, offered a monetary prize of Rs. 10 lakh to anyone who could sever the tongue of SP Maurya, the leader of the Samajwadi Party (SP), who recently sparked controversy by declaring that "Hinduism is a hoax."

Ganga Ram Sharma, the head of the Congress' human rights division in Moradabad, charged the SP politician with disparaging Hinduism and the holy book Ramcharitmanas. On the internet, the letter he wrote announcing the prize went viral.

The SP leader proposed a ban on the Hindu sacred scripture Ramcharitmanas in January of this year, calling it "nonsense." He claimed that Tulsidas created the text for his own satisfaction and that Ramcharitmanas assigns the low caste as "Shudras" in the text.

The Samajwadi Party, led by Akhilesh Yadav, dissociated itself from Maurya's comments when they drew considerable criticism.

Manoj Kumar Pandey, the head of the SP, stated on Monday that Maurya's comments do not represent the viewpoint of the party. He also rebuked Maurya for taking advantage of religion to "revive his political career."

Prior to the 2022 elections, Maurya, a well-known OBC politician, defected from the BJP to the SP. Since then, he has drawn criticism for his comments on Hindu temples and Hinduism. Additionally, he has been accused of making defamatory remarks towards members of the Hindu religion, which is practised by more than 80% of Indians.

A prominent party leader was targeted with a shoe during a recent Samajwadi Party event last week. Party workers had subdued the alleged attacker, Akash Saini, who was dressed as a lawyer. The incident happened during the SP's 'mahasammelan' gathering in Lucknow, where party leader Akhilesh Yadav was supposed to speak.

Earlier this month, Maurya stoked another controversy by saying, "When they do not consider the tribals, Dalits, and backwards as Hindus, who constitute 90 per cent of the population, then with only 10 per cent people's statement, will it become the Hindu religion? This is the Brahmin religion..." 

He also accused the BJP of demeaning underrepresented communities by emphasising the "Brahmin religion" and ignoring the others.