Polls around corner, SP again under political glare for Ramcharitmanas

Lucknow: Months before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP went hammer-and-tongs against the Samajwadi Party after one of its then functionaries questioned some couplets of the Ramcharitmanas.Today, barely a few months before the campaigning for 2027 UP Assembly polls begins, SP is once again in the crosshairs of political rivals for its chief Akhilesh Yadav describing the Ramcharitmanas as a ‘form of cultural constitution’.The latest episode stems from Akhilesh Yadav’s recent social media post over police action in Lucknow during an anti-encroachment drive where a lawyer, who had Ramcharitmanas in his hand, was assaulted.The next day, SP functionary Puja Shukla visited the lawyer at a city hospital and presented him a copy of the Ramcharitmanas. Akhilesh posted a photograph of the lawyer receiving the Ramcharitmanas, describing it as ‘a form of cultural constitution which is righteous code of conduct’.In political circles, Akhilesh calling the Ramcharitmanas a ‘form of cultural constitution’ is being seen as a shift from the 2023 situation when the then SP national general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya questioned certain couplets of the epic. Maurya demanded that the BJP govt should remove certain verses from the poem as they were “derogatory and disrespectful” towards “women, Dalits and backwards”.Then Akhilesh chose to maintain a studied silence on the issue and was said to have communicated his displeasure to Maurya for triggering a row. BJP tried to point fingers at Akhilesh, and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya even accused the SP chief of having orchestrated the controversy to appease Muslims.Within the SP, the common perception is that Akhilesh’s stance on the Ramcharitmanas has remained the same all through. “Swami Prasad Maurya was unhappy over party leadership not backing him through the row. He eventually resigned from SP,” said a senior SP functionary, explaining Akhilesh’s stance on the issue in 2023.Describing it as an attempt to use religious symbolism for political survival after suffering repeated electoral defeats, UP BJP spokesperson Hero Bajpai said the opposition was now forced to take shelter behind the Ramcharitmanas. “These are the same people who once denied Lord Ram and questioned his existence. Those associated with firing on Ram Temple supporters are today reciting the Ramcharitmanas, organising community feasts and trying to convince society that they are not anti-Hindu,” Bajpai said.“People of UP are watching these political developments closely. The party, under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath, will register a landslide victory in the 2027 UP assembly elections,” he asserted.State president of Bahujan Samaj Party, Vishwanath Pal, refused to comment on what he termed as ‘Dharmik Rajneeti’ (politics of religion).The Congress, which is being seen as SP’s alliance partner for the 2027 UP polls, supported Akhilesh’s stance on the Ramcharitmanas.“Ramcharitmanas is a reflection of Indian society and Sanatan philosophy. Our way of life originates from it,” said UPCC chief Ajay Rai. He said Akhilesh’s statement resonates with every person who knows in detail about the epic. About attempts to politicise the issue, Rai said it was not wise to look at religious issues through a political lens.