BJP MLA from Bansdih Ketakee Singh on Sunday launched a sharp attack against SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya over his statement on Ramcharitmanas, calling him a "two-faced" character.
"There are religious manuscripts, Gods and Goddesses, in which we repose our faith, and the religion we follow, there are some dogs who bark at it without any reason," Singh told media, without taking Maurya's name.
She said that the "entire country" is condemning the remarks made by Maurya, and asked if the Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has issued a denunciation of Maurya's statement.
On Maurya, she said, "It is good that he left the BJP before the UP Assembly elections. He is a two-faced man. Till the time, he was with us, he behaved in a cultured way."
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The MLA, referring to Akhilesh, said that the "problem" is at the top of the party and asked the SP president to take a few classes of RSS to get trained in Hindu religion.
"I am sending an invitation to him and his entire platoon, and requesting the 'Sangh pramukh' to hold a few classes for them and make them understand what religion is," she said.
"Is the statement given by Swami Prasad Maurya not divisive? Those who give statements against the nation, and especially against the religion, they should be booked under sedition," she added.
Maurya, a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Pradesh, kickstarted a controversy on January 22 when he alleged that certain verses in the Ramcharitmanas "insult" a large section of society on the basis of caste as he demanded a ban on those passages in the text.
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A week since, Maurya stands by his comments and in tweet on Sunday said: "I will continue to oppose the conspiracy to insult tribals, Dalits-backwards and women in the name of religion. The way in which an elephant does not change its movement because of barking dogs, the same way, I will stick to my stand till these people get respect."
Maurya was a cabinet minister in the BJP government and had resigned and joined the SP before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
He had contested from the Fazilnagar assembly seat in Kushinagar district but lost. But he was later sent to the legislative council by Akhilesh Yadav.
