People demanding ban on 'Ramcharitmanas' are 'brainless': Bihar MLC

Patna (Bihar) [India], January 23 (ANI): Bihar MLC Maheswar Singh on Monday criticized people for demanding ban on 'Ramcharitmanas', saying such people are "uneducated and brainless".
"Some people are demanding to ban 'Ramcharitmanas'...such people are eunuchs...they're uneducated and brainless. They should be punished for insulting it," Maheshwar Singh, independent MLC said while addressing a rally.
"Such people don't have any knowledge about 'Ramcharitmanas'," Singh claimed.
"I do not believe in politics of caste. Ramcharitmanas taught about the kind of relations between father and son and among brothers," Singh added.
Earlier, Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya demanded the deletion of "insulting comments and sarcasm" targeted at particular castes and sects in Ramcharitmanas, a poem based on the epic Ramayana.
Speaking to ANI, the SP leader said, "I don't have any issue with Ramcharitramanas but parts of it have insulting comments and sarcasm directed at particular castes and sects. Those should be removed."
Maurya further claimed that in the Ramcharitmanas, which was composed by Tulsidas, there are words hurting the sentiments of the Dalit community.
Earlier this month, Bihar Education Minister Chadra Shekhar triggered a row with his statement that the Ramcharitmanas is divisive and spread hatred in society.
The remarks stirred outrage among Hindu religious leaders and the BJP, which demanded his dismissal from the government.
While addressing the students at the 15th convocation ceremony of Nalanda Open University, Chandra Shekhar described Ramcharitmanas and Manusmriti as books that divide society.
"Why was the Manusmriti burnt? It is because it has insulting remarks against a large section of society. Why was Ramcharitmanas resisted? It is because it speaks against the right of the lower caste people to access education. It says lower caste people turn poisonous if they receive education, just as a snake becomes venomous after drinking milk," the minister said on Sunday.(ANI)