JD(U) & Congress flay Bihar minister Chandrashekhar’s remarks on Ramcharitmanas

PATNA: The controversial statements by education minister Chandrashekhar about certain verses of Hindu epic Ramcharitmanas have now begun to cause bitterness in the ruling Grand Alliance in the state.
A day after the minister sought for removing “garbage” from the Hindu epic in an oblique reference to its certain versus, which he alleged were insulting for the “women and deprived sections of the society”, two of his allies — JD(U) and Congress — reacted sharply, suggesting him to refrain from making such comments.
Chandrashekhar on Tuesday said, “I find certain verses of the epic as highly objectionable and even Ram Manohar Lohia described them as ‘garbage’ which must be removed.”
“The education minister shouldn’t make such comments. Lord Ram belongs to every community and is revered even in Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia,” JD(U) state spokesperson Ranbir Nandan said on Wednesday. He said several verses of Ramcharitmanas were written by Tulsidas in mosques when some Hindu fanatics had opposed him during the Mughal period. The Ramcharitmanas was believed to have been written between 1574 and 1576/77.
JD(U) legislator from Parbatta, Sanjeev Kumar, even asked the minister to switch over to other religions if he was so much fed up with Hinduism. “We can’t tolerate him speaking nonsense about our religious book just because he is a minister. He must not test our patience,” Kumar said, adding the minister was doing all this just to get media attention.
Saying the minister was suffering from “personality disorder”, Kumar charged him with casteism. “Ramcharitmanas ko jativad me bandhana chah rahe hain,” he said.
Describing it shocking, Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathorre said Ramcharitmanas and Gita are so vast that their verses can’t be easily explained. “It’s true that the books were written in the context of those times, yet they remain the most revered books of Hindus today,” Rathorre said. Another Congress spokesperson Asitnath Tiwari asked the minister not to interfere in religious matter.
However, RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari asked the opposition not to make hue and cry over such issues as Ram and Rancharitmanas are a matter of faith.
Hindu spiritual leader Swami Rambhadracharya also criticised Chandrashekhar for his controversial comments. “Those making comments about Ramcharitmanas know nothing about it. They are unable to understand its verses,” he told media persons in Patna and charged the minister with insulting the Hindu epic. “Ek bhi akshar galat nahin hai…kewal vyakhya nahin samajh pa rahe hain (not a single word in the book is wrong. The people are just unable to understand its meaning),” he said and added:“Chandrashekhar ko aata jata nahin hai.”