Bihar minister’s remarks on ‘Ramcharitmanas’ are criticized by the BJP as ‘sick mentality’
According to Chandra Shekhar, the Ramcharitmanas and other ancient texts contain components that are so poisonous that they may be compared to “potassium cyanide.”
On Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party responded to Chandra Shekhar’s remarks on the old Hindu text Ramcharitmanas.
Neeraj Kumar, a member of the BJP media panel, responded to Shekhar’s remarks by saying, “The education minister has insulted the great Sanatana Dharma, which has progressive luminaries like Sant Ravidas and Swami Vivekananda inside its fold. We are curious as to the chief minister Nitish Kumar’s silence about the outburst.
Before making comments on old texts like these, Union minister Nityanand Rai advised reading “every line of the Ramayan” and understanding the meaning behind each word. “I would advise keeping one Guru, reading the whole Ramayan and comprehending the meaning of each word before commenting on the Ramayan and Mahabharata…They ought not to utter such things.This exemplifies their deranged mindset…This exhibits an attitude of appeasement.
The Ramayan and the Mahabharata are not cyanide.”Appeasement, corruption, and governments providing criminals with a haven are cyanide,” he said.
On Thursday, Shekhar sparked a new debate by asserting that ancient texts like the Ramcharitmanas had poisonous components that may be compared to “potassium cyanide.”
The minister’s identical remarks earlier this year had sparked an uproar. “It is not just my view but even great Hindi writer Nagarjuna and socialist thinker Ram Manohar Lohia have said that the Ramcharitmanas contains many regressive thoughts,” the minister added.
The RJD leader’s comments quickly gained popularity on social media.
The JD(U) Abhishek Jha, a spokesman for chief minister Nitish Kumar, responded to the minister’s comments by saying, “The Constitution necessitates that all religions are to be afforded equal respect. Some individuals say things only to get attention, which is something we find objectionable.
Similar claims were made earlier this year by the education minister, who said that the Ramcharitmanas “spread hatred in the society.”
“People from lower castes were not permitted to attend school, and according to the Ramcharitmanas, if they do, they would become toxic much as a snake does after consuming milk. These books—Manusmriti, Ramcharitmanas, Bunch of Thoughts by Guru Golwalkar—spread enmity, he had said.
The BJP took issue with the minister of Bihar’s comments and accused him of using the divisive speech to attempt to sway the vote. “Ramcharit Manas spreads hatred,” the RJD’s Bihar education minister said. The statement “Ram Janmbhoomi is nafrat ki zameen” was made by Jagdanand Singh a few days ago. Votebank ka Udyog, not Sanyog, is what this is. Will anything be done? Shehzad Poonawalla, a spokesman for the BJP, made a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
