PATNA: Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday forayed into the controversy surrounding ‘Ramcharitmanas’ which received triggered by utterances of a state minister just a few months in the past and has since refused to die down. Manjhi, who heads the Hindustani Awam Morcha and is a part of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ authorities within the state, was reacting to questions from journalists who sought his views on the controversial stance of state Education Minister Chandrashekhar on the epic.
“I have always held that Lord Rama is an imaginary figure and not a historical one. I am not the first one to have said so. Similar views have been expressed by scholars like Rahul Sankrityayan and Lokmanya Tilak. But since they were Brahmins, nobody took exception. When I say it, people have problems”, Manjhi stated.
He added, “even if we go by the myth, Ravana does come across as far more well-versed in karma kanda (rituals) than Rama. We should ponder why is it that Valmiki, who is credited with having penned the oldest Ramayana, is never revered like Tulsidas (author of Ramcharitmanas)”.
Manjhi appeared to lend a hand with the rivalry of the state schooling minister who had stirred an argument by criticising a few of the verses within the ‘Ramcharitmanas’ which portrayed ‘Shudras’ in a poor gentle.
The minister has additionally known as for the expunction of such passages, stressing ‘Lord Rama partook fruits provided by Shabari (a tribal devotee) however her descendants (Dalits/tribals) proceed to be discriminated towards by those that worship Lord Rama’.
The BJP, which is now in opposition within the state, had predictably expressed outrage over the feedback of the Education minister, who belongs to the RJD. Leaders on either side agree that the RJD chief had deftly tried to play the caste card in a bid to blunt the surge of Hindutva, with a watch on the Lok Sabha elections subsequent yr and meeting polls in 2025.
A leaf out of the RJD’s ebook appeared to have additionally been taken by the Samajwadi Party, the BJP’s principal opponent in adjoining Uttar Pradesh the place its leaders have been in information for adopting an analogous stance, a lot to the chagrin of the saffron social gathering which seeks to showcase the development of the temple at Ayodhya massive time.
Manjhi additionally stated, “I hold that the Ramcharitmanas is a beautiful literary work and contains many good things. But it must be purged of the stuff that condones social discrimination”.
