News Analysis India

Tag: Swami Prasad Maurya

  • ‘Hinduism Is No Religion, Just Deception’: SP Leader Swami Prasad Maurya Makes Controversial Remarks Again |

    NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya has courted controversy once again and this time he has said that Hinduism is not a religion but just a deception. In a video shared by news agency ANI, the Samajwadi Party leader cited RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Prime Minister Narendra Mmodi’s past remarks highlighting that there is no religion called Hindu but instead, it is a way of living.

    “Hindu bus ek dhokha hai…RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has said twice that there is no religion called Hindu but instead, it is a way of living. Prime Minister Modi has also said that there is no Hindu religion…Sentiments don’t get hurt when these people make such statements but if Swami Prasad Maurya says the same, it causes unrest…” Maurya was quoted as saying by ANI in a video.

     

    #WATCH | Delhi: Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya says, “Hindu ek dhokha hai…RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has said twice that there is no religion called Hindu but instead, it is a way of living. Prime Minister Modi has also said that there is no Hindu religion…Sentiments… pic.twitter.com/1qnULH1rqt
    — ANI (@ANI) December 26, 2023

     

    Samajwadi Party leader’s remarks have once ignited a heated discussion and prompted diverse reactions from various quarters.

    Impact On the Hindu Community

    Maurya’s statement challenges the core identity of the Hindu community, raising concerns about the potential repercussions on its members. Many individuals and religious leaders within the community have expressed their displeasure and condemned the assertion as misleading and disrespectful.

    Debate Over Definition Of Religion

    This incident has fueled a broader debate about the definition of religion and how different communities perceive and practice their faith. Scholars, theologians, and religious experts are engaging in discussions to dissect the implications of such statements on religious harmony and understanding.

    Calls For Clarification and Apology

    In response to the backlash, there are calls from the Hindu outfits demanding clarification on the intent behind the words. Additionally, some have demanded a public apology, citing the potential harm caused by such a sweeping declaration about a major religious tradition.

  • Only women, ‘Shudras’ can feel pain of ‘derogatory’ remarks made against them in guise of religion: Maurya

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party national general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya on Thursday said only women and “Shudras” can feel the pain of the “derogatory” remarks made against them in the guise of religion.

    Maurya, a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Pradesh, recently made headlines for his comments on Ramcharitmanas – a 16th-century poem, saying that its certain verses “insult” a large section of the society on the basis of caste and demanded that those be “banned”.

    He compared the pain of women and ‘Shudras’ with that of Mahatma Gandhi after he was thrown out of a train by Britishers.

    “The pain caused by the insult and misbehaviour the British had meted out to Gandhiji on a train by saying ‘Indians are dogs’ was only felt by him. Similarly, the pain caused by the derogatory comments made against women and Shudras in the guise of religion are only felt by them,” Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi.

    A cabinet minister in the previous BJP government in the state, Maurya had resigned and joined the SP before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

    He contested the election from the Fazilnagar Assembly seat in the Kushinagar district but lost.

    He was later sent to the legislative council by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

    On January 24, an FIR was registered against Maurya at the Hazratganj police station over his controversial comments on the “Ramcharitmanas”, police said.

    The case was registered following a complaint from Shivendra Mishra, a resident of the Aishbagh locality in the Bazar Khala area of Lucknow.

    Another FIR was registered against Maurya and others on January 29 at the PGI police station.

    The case was registered on a complaint from Satnam Singh Lavi, who alleged that the act of burning the copies of the “Ramcharitmanas” posed a threat to peace, police said.

    ALSO READ | ‘Ramcharitmanas curse to society’: Bihar Minister comments against Tulsidas’s doha; BJP hits back 

    LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party national general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya on Thursday said only women and “Shudras” can feel the pain of the “derogatory” remarks made against them in the guise of religion.

    Maurya, a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Pradesh, recently made headlines for his comments on Ramcharitmanas – a 16th-century poem, saying that its certain verses “insult” a large section of the society on the basis of caste and demanded that those be “banned”.

    He compared the pain of women and ‘Shudras’ with that of Mahatma Gandhi after he was thrown out of a train by Britishers.

    “The pain caused by the insult and misbehaviour the British had meted out to Gandhiji on a train by saying ‘Indians are dogs’ was only felt by him. Similarly, the pain caused by the derogatory comments made against women and Shudras in the guise of religion are only felt by them,” Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi.

    A cabinet minister in the previous BJP government in the state, Maurya had resigned and joined the SP before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

    He contested the election from the Fazilnagar Assembly seat in the Kushinagar district but lost.

    He was later sent to the legislative council by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

    On January 24, an FIR was registered against Maurya at the Hazratganj police station over his controversial comments on the “Ramcharitmanas”, police said.

    The case was registered following a complaint from Shivendra Mishra, a resident of the Aishbagh locality in the Bazar Khala area of Lucknow.

    Another FIR was registered against Maurya and others on January 29 at the PGI police station.

    The case was registered on a complaint from Satnam Singh Lavi, who alleged that the act of burning the copies of the “Ramcharitmanas” posed a threat to peace, police said.

    ALSO READ | ‘Ramcharitmanas curse to society’: Bihar Minister comments against Tulsidas’s doha; BJP hits back 

  • SP leader withdraws election petition against BJP MP Sanghamitra Maurya

    By PTI

    BADAUN: Samajwadi Party leader Dharmendra Yadav has said he has withdrawn his election petition filed before the Allahabad High Court against sitting MP Sanghamitra Maurya, accusing her of submitting “incorrect information” in a poll affidavit.

    Maurya, the daughter of Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya, had fought the 2019 general elections from Budaun on a BJP ticket.

    She had won the contest defeating Dharmendra Yadav, the then sitting MP from the seat, with a margin of 18,000 votes.

    Dharmendra Yadav is a cousin of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

    After the conclusion of the 2019 general election, Dharmendra Yadav had filed the petition contending that some information provided by Sanghamitra Maurya in her election affidavit was incorrect.

    He had also alleged voting fraud in his petition and accused the election officials of not being fair.

    Dharmendra Yadav on Saturday told PTI that he had filed an undertaking to withdraw the petition a few months ago which was accepted by the High Court on Friday last.

    “There seems to be no need for the petition now. Swami Prasad Maurya, father of Sanghamitra Maurya, is in our party, and to avoid a situation of differences the petition was taken back.”

    Swami Prasad Maurya, who was a minister in the previous Yogi Adityanath government, was in the BJP at the time of the 2019 general elections.

    He had moved to the SP just before the recent state assembly elections, and is currently an MLC from SP.

    Sanghamitra Maurya, reacting to the development, told PTI: “I don’t know about his personal thoughts before taking back the petition. I just want to say that he has accepted the defeat of 2019 from his heart.”

    When asked if she will join the SP like her father, she said, “I have the support of the people. I have not been swayed by anyone in the past three years. If Dharmendra Yadav wants to join BJP, he is welcome.”

    BADAUN: Samajwadi Party leader Dharmendra Yadav has said he has withdrawn his election petition filed before the Allahabad High Court against sitting MP Sanghamitra Maurya, accusing her of submitting “incorrect information” in a poll affidavit.

    Maurya, the daughter of Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya, had fought the 2019 general elections from Budaun on a BJP ticket.

    She had won the contest defeating Dharmendra Yadav, the then sitting MP from the seat, with a margin of 18,000 votes.

    Dharmendra Yadav is a cousin of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

    After the conclusion of the 2019 general election, Dharmendra Yadav had filed the petition contending that some information provided by Sanghamitra Maurya in her election affidavit was incorrect.

    He had also alleged voting fraud in his petition and accused the election officials of not being fair.

    Dharmendra Yadav on Saturday told PTI that he had filed an undertaking to withdraw the petition a few months ago which was accepted by the High Court on Friday last.

    “There seems to be no need for the petition now. Swami Prasad Maurya, father of Sanghamitra Maurya, is in our party, and to avoid a situation of differences the petition was taken back.”

    Swami Prasad Maurya, who was a minister in the previous Yogi Adityanath government, was in the BJP at the time of the 2019 general elections.

    He had moved to the SP just before the recent state assembly elections, and is currently an MLC from SP.

    Sanghamitra Maurya, reacting to the development, told PTI: “I don’t know about his personal thoughts before taking back the petition. I just want to say that he has accepted the defeat of 2019 from his heart.”

    When asked if she will join the SP like her father, she said, “I have the support of the people. I have not been swayed by anyone in the past three years. If Dharmendra Yadav wants to join BJP, he is welcome.”

  • Ex-UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya’s son taken for questioning by police

    By PTI

    GORAKHPUR: The son of former UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya, fighting from the Fazilnagar assembly constituency as a Samajwadi Party candidate, was on Wednesday taken to the police station for questioning on the allegation that he was distributing money to people on the eve of polling.

    Kushinagar District Magistrate S Rajalingam gave this information while denying Mauray’s claim that his son Ashok Maurya was arrested in a “false” case of instigating violence against BJP supporters.

    DM Rajalingam denied the allegation saying Maurya’s son has been taken to the police station only for questioning after allegedly being found distributing money to voters on the eve of voting in the area.

    “The information of arrest is totally wrong. We got information in the evening that Swami’s son is distributing money and campaigning and he along with some others were found on the spot in three vehicles and police took him to the police station,” the DM said.

    “He is not a voter of the area and what he was doing there within 48 hours of the poll is a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct,” the DM said, adding he has been taken to the police station only for questioning.

    “The information of arrest is wrong. A probe has been initiated in the matter,” the DM said.

    Maurya, a former Cabinet colleague of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, made the claim of his son’s arrest in a social media post soon after two cross-FIR were lodged by the Kushinagar police on Wednesday on complaints by his party supporters and those of BJP candidate Surendra Singh Kushwaha.

    In the FIR and the counter-FIR, each of the two sides has alleged attack on it by the other side.

    The FIR lodged on the complaint of the BJP side accused former UP minister Maurya, his daughter Sanghmitra Maurya, a BJP MP, and son Ashok Maurya of leading and instigating their supporters to attack the participants of a saffron party’s poll procession, police said.

    The second FIR lodged by Maurya’s supporters made similar allegations against Kushwaha, block head Vashisht Rai alias Guddu Rai and others, police said.

    The two FIRs together named 39 people from both side and hundreds of other unidentified people in them, the police said.

    Both sides accused each other of a planned attack and based on their written complaints, FIRs were lodged against 39 named people, including 25 of Maurya’s side and 14 belonging to the BJP side besides hundreds of other unnamed people of both sides, police said.

    “Based on written complaints from both sides, FIRs have been lodged under sections 147, 148, 171-F, 308, 323, 352, 392, 427, 504, 506 of the Indian Penal Code,” Kushinagar Superintendent of Police Sachindra Patel said.

    These sections respectively pertain to rioting, rioting using deadly weapons, exercising undue influence during elections, attempting culpable homicide, causing injury, using criminal force, committing robbery, causing mischief, breaching the peace and issuing threats.

  • Battle of caste, community & blood ties in Fazilnagar

    Express News Service

    GORAKHPUR:  Filial ties could land Sanghmitra Maurya, BJP MP from Badaun, in trouble. On Monday night Sanghmitra, daughter of BJP turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya, had to leave her father’s door-to-door campaign midway. Sources said she was canvassing for her father “quietly” and was spotted by BJP workers who alerted party leaders in Fazilnagar, the constituency from where Maurya is a Samajwadi Party candidate.

    Fazilnagar will vote along with Gorakhpur in Phase-6 of Assembly polls on March 3. Swami Prasad Maurya is a prominent non-Yadav OBC face in state politics. He is counting on his traditional vote base and that of SP’s core voters. His opponent, BJP’s Surender Singh Kushwaha, is also a prominent OBC face and is son of sitting BJP MLA Ganga Singh Kushwaha. The BJP is banking on the development work done by the Yogi government besides the caste dynamics. 

    However, BSP candidate Mohammad Illyas Ansari, an SP turncoat, has made the election triangular. The BSP has a strong presence in the assembly segment with over 80,000 Dalit and 90,000 Muslim voters. Maurya is wooing the voters over caste census while raising stray cattle menace, lack of health and education facilities and unemployment. He deserted BJP on January 14 to join the SP, after serving as labour minister in the Yogi cabinet for five years. He has now chosen Fazilnagar instead of adjoining stronghold Padrauna where he was believed to be facing strong anti-incumbency. Maurya had representing Padrauna for four terms since 2007. 

    In the fray with an outsider tag (given by rivals), Maurya is depending largely on the caste matrix of the segment with his influence over OBC Maurya-Kushwaha-Shakya-Saini community along with the traditional support base of the SP. BJP nominee Surender Singh Kushwaha too belongs to the OBC community. He comes from Gurwaliya, a village dominated by Kushwahas, in Fazilnagar.

    Both Maurya and Kushwaha have left the voters confused. “It is a difficult election as the fight is between a big name (Maurya) and the local leader of the community,” says Sharad Kushwaha, a farmer. “Though Surender Singh is our own candidate and is always easily available in the hour of need, but Maurya is a big name.” 

    Ram Autar, 65, sounds hopeful saying Maurya is a big OBC leader and he will develop Fazilnagar. The saffron brigade is treating Fazilanagar as a seat of prestige. The BJP often targets Maurya for his ‘betrayal’. Fazilnagar is a small sub-urban pocket of Kushinagar, the land of Lord Budhha who had attained salvation here. Of the 5.5 lakh population, Fazilnagar has an electorate of 3.77 lakh.

    “In 2017, we had voted for Ganga Singh Kushwaha. Now his son is contesting. Both the father and the son have influence over OBC voters. They are promising us to stand by in our happiness and grief. Voters will make a final decision on March 3,” says Jitendra Singh, a grocery shop owner in Babuganj market.

    Compelled to make a tough choice between Maurya and Kushwaha, the voters of Fazilnagar are not ignoring BSP candidate Ilyas Ansari, who quit the Samajwadi Party after he could not get the ticket.The Congress and the AAP has fielded Sunil Singh and Harish Chandra Yadav. For Sarvesh Kumar Maurya, the contest will be tough between BJP and SP. “My choice is clear. I may be belonging to the same caste as Swami Prasad but I cannot overlook the development done by the BJP.” 

  • UP polls: Ex-minister Maurya who jumped ship from BJP to SP changes constituency to Fazilnagar

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who had deserted the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party with two other ministers and around half a dozen sitting BJP MLAs last month, has been given a ticket from Fazilnagar instead of his traditional stronghold of Padrauna in Kushinagar. Fazilnagar is an assembly seat adjoining Padrauna which Maurya has been representing for four terms since 2007.

    Even after joining the BJP defecting from the BSP in 2016, Maurya had contested from Padrauna and is a sitting MLA from there. Now, in Fazilnagar, Maurya will be up against the BJP’s Surendra Kushwaha, the son of incumbent BJP MLA Ganga Singh Kushwaha.

    Maurya’s name was on the SP list of three candidates, comprising Abhishek Mishra from Lucknow’s Sarojini Nagar seat and Pallavi Patel from Sirathu in Kaushambi besides Maurya. Pallavi Patel, the sister of Union minister and BJP ally Anupriya Patel, will face deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya in Sirathu.

    Since Maurya left the BJP, there was speculation that the ruling party would field a strong candidate to corner him in his pocket borough. In the meantime, senior Congress leader and the scion of Kushinagar royal family RPN Singh joined the BJP. Padrauna has been the turf of RPN Singh as he has represented it in UP Assembly for three straight terms – 1996, 2002 and 2007.

    ALSO READ: With base depleting, top Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders go AWOL

    Political circles are abuzz with speculation that RPN Singh will contest from Padrauna on the BJP ticket. In the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, he had defeated Maurya from Kushinagar parliamentary seat. The political rivalry between Maurya and RPN Singh has been going on for quite long.

    As per sources, Maurya wanted to shift his constituency from Padrauna to Fazilnagar as he was sensing anti-incumbency against him in his traditional constituency. Akhilesh Yadav obliged him purportedly fulfilling the promise made to him when he switched sides from the BJP to the SP.

    However, Maurya claimed that Fazilnagar would be a challenge for him and that the more difficult the challenge was, the better he felt. “I had said that my workers accept my popularity everywhere, so I welcome whatever has been decided for me by the party’s national president,” said Maurya after the announcement on Wednesday. However, he refused to acknowledge any challenge from RPN Singh saying, “There will perhaps be no candidate weaker than RPN Singh if the BJP fields him.”

    Meanwhile, of the three ministers who had left the Yogi government to join the SP last month, two — Swami Prasad Maurya and Dara Singh Chauhan — have shifted to other constituencies leaving their strongholds as was promised to them by the SP leadership when they deserted the BJP. Dara Singh Chauhan has shifted from Madhuban in Mau to Ghosi in the same district.

    However, the third one Dharam Singh Saini wanted the ticket from his own constituency Nakur and he has also been obliged denying a ticket to Congress strongman Imran Masood who also wanted to contest from the same constituency. Saini and Masood have been fighting against each other for quite some time in Nakur.

  • Not three-fourth seats, BJP meant it will get 3 or 4 seats in UP polls: Akhilesh

    After the arrival of Swami Prasad Maurya and others in the SP, the saffron party would lose even this 20 per cent, Yadav said.

  • UP polls: As SP Maurya quits, BJP must now strike balance between own cadre and imported faces

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The exit of Swami Prasad Maurya, sitting BJP MLA and cabinet minister in the Yogi government, just before the upcoming assembly elections is a lesson for the ruling BJP. 

    It is not that only Maurya, who announced on Wednesday that he would be joining the Samajwadi Party on January 14– — would leave the saffron bandwagon, three sitting BJP MLAs close to him, have already tendered their resignations from the primary membership of the BJP and a few more are likely to follow the suit.

    Maurya has been a significant OBC (other backward classes) leader across multiple political formations for almost four decades. There are 50% OBC voters in UP. Yadavs are around 9% of those and have traditionally supported the Samajwadi Party. Parties continue to fight over the 32-35% of non-Yadav OBC votes.

    BJP, which has already got into action mode for damage control, is trying to explain the exit of Maurya as a step taken under the fear of denial of tickets or even the change of constituency. “However, whatever be the reason for Maurya’s exit, it has left behind a lesson for the BJP of not trusting the turncoats blindly at the cost of its original cadre,” says political commentator JP Shukla.

    ALSO READ | UP polls: Swami Prasad Maurya, who quit Yogi’s cabinet, issued arrest warrant in 2014 case

    The political experts also believe that the series of events that have taken place since Tuesday has wielded a jolt to the confidence of the ruling party leaders. “Overconfidence at the time of elections sometimes proves to be fatal,” says Prof AK Mishra, a prominent political scientist.

    This move of Maurya, who is known to be a habitual party hopper, however, poses a challenge to the BJP to strike a proper balance between its own cader and the big faces imported from other parties especially at the time of elections, feels Prof Mishra.

    The political experts are of the opinion that the ruling party will also be facing the challenge of keeping its own cadre content while accommodating the sulking fence-sitters. If the sources are to be believed many more leaders, who had joined the BJP ahead of 2017 assembly polls and got the plum portfolios for five years, may now switch sides. The names of Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini, both ministers in Yogi cabinet, had been doing the rounds. While Chauhan has already tendered his resignation, Saini’s next move is expected.

    However, Saini has denied any such plan swearing their loyalty to the ruling party for now.

    ALSO READ | UP polls: BJP strikes back after Yogi minister quits, inducts Congress, SP MLAs into party

    “BJP needs to resolve some of the issues otherwise the trust overdose on turncoats would dent its popularity and prestige,” says Prof SK Dwivedi. He adds that the jolt given by Swami Prasad Maurya establishes the fact that even BJP is responsible for it. “In the name of doing ideological politics, the BJP has propagated the politics of convenience by inducting countless turncoats and obliging them with plum portfolios. However, the party has failed to inculcate its values and culture in the turncoats. It is paying for it today,” says Prof Dwivedi.

    So far as Maurya is concerned, he was a prominent OBC leader when he was in the Bahujan Samaj Party. When BSP’s popularity started fading in 2016, Maurya hopped on to the saffron bandwagon which was on the surge.

    “His dual standards could be gauged from the fact that after holding a cabinet ministerial post in the Yogi government for five years he realized that he was having ideological differences with the BJP at the end of the tenure,” says JP Shukla. Moreover, he is not going to compromise his daughter Sanghmitra’s future as she has left with at least two years of her tenure as BJP MP from Badaun, adds Shukla. After her father’s exit, Sanghmitra is swearing her loyalty to the BJP.

    ALSO READ | BJP leader Dara Singh Chauhan quits from Yogi cabinet

    The emergence of Keshav Prasad Maurya as an OBC leader overshadowed Swami’s clout in the BJP. Despite being an OBC leader, he failed to ensure victory for his son, Utkrisht Maurya, from Unchahaar despite the BJP wave in the 2017 assembly elections. The sources claim that the non-assurance of a ticket to his son was one of the reasons for Maurya to quit the BJP.

    Despite having enjoyed the confidence of BSP chief Mayawati and three ministerial stints in her regimes, Maurya left BSP in 2016 accusing it of auctioning the tickets. However, later Mayawati claimed that Maurya left the party as she denied tickets to his son and daughter.

    In the 2012 Assembly polls, Maurya’s son Utkrist lost from the Unchahar Assembly seat of Rae Bareli while Sanghmitra lost from Aliganj in the Etah constituency.

    Maurya later joined the BJP, just before the 2017 polls, claiming that he was impressed with the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “weaker sections” of the society.

  • Swami Prasad Maurya’s presence may help SP break image of being a Yadav-Muslim party

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The defection of Swami Prasad Maurya to the Samajwadi Party camp could come in handy for SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in projecting his party as inclusive of all castes and no more a strong Yadav-Muslim dominant outfit only. 

    Rather Maurya’s induction in the SP would help the party counter BJP’s strategy to consolidate the Most Backward Caste (MBCs), especially in the eastern UP. 

    Akhilesh has also stitched the pre-poll alliance with other caste-based outfits like the former BJP ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Mahan Dal, Rashtriya Janwadi Party, Apna Dal (K) and RLD.

    As per the political scientists, the Maurya community which makes around 3-4 per cent of the UP population, has a strong presence across around half a dozen districts like Prayagraj, Rae Bareli, Kaushambi, Sant Kabir Nagar and Siddharthnagar. Maurya community is closely knit with Shakyas, Kushwahas and Sainis among the backwards who together make around 8 per cent of the UP population.

    As per the political experts, Swami Prasad Maurya is considered to be a force to reckon with among the non-Yadav OBCs. Though he represents Padrauna assembly segment of Kushinagar, the eastern UP district bordering Bihar, he is believed to have his clout in central-eastern UP districts of Rae Bareli, Unchahar,

    Shahjahanpur, Kaushmabi and Badaun with sway over 25-30 seats falling in these districts.

    Significantly, Swami Prasad Maurya is known to be a hard bargainer. In June 2016, Maurya had quit the BSP after raising a banner of revolt against party chief Mayawati. Sensing a strong Modi wave, Maurya joined the BJP and won from Padrauna defeating BSP’s Javed Iqbal by a margin of over 40,000 votes.

    He had won the seat on BSP ticket in 2012 also defeating Congress’ Rajesh Jaiswal. Significantly, in 2007 when Mayawati stormed to power with full majority for the first time, Maurya had lost from Dalmau assembly seat in Rae Bareli. Rae Bareli has been the traditional seat of Maurya and he represented it from 1996 to 2007.

  • Religion should not be used to create politics: UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya

    By PTI

    BALLIA (UP): Uttar Pradesh Labour Minister Swami Prasad Maurya has stressed that religion is a matter of faith and it should not be made a matter of politics.

    The minister, while talking to newspersons on the sidelines of BJP’s ‘Prabudh Varg Sammelan’ here on Thursday, also said the party has nothing to do with “abba Jaan, chacha Jaan and bhai Jaan’ and it is going to the people in upcoming elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on the basis of its welfare and development schemes.

    “No God should be associated with politics. God is a matter of faith. All the people have the freedom to believe in God according to their faith. The matter of faith should not be mixed with politics,” Maurya said.

    He also attacked Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on “his love of Lord Ram and Shri Krishna”.

    Referring to the recent statement of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait terming AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi as ‘chacha jaan’, he said the BJP is going to the public on the basis of its public welfare and development schemes.

    “Those who do not have anything are taking the help of chacha jaan and abba jaan. BJP is not concerned with abba jaan, chacha jaan and bhai Jaan,” he said.

    Recently, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, apparently attacking the Samajwadi Party, had said people who say “abba jaan” used to “digest” all the ration items earlier.

    The CM’s comment in Kushinagar had sparked a controversy of sorts.

    Claiming that the opposition parties have failed in UP, Maurya said it has become issueless and the people of the country and the state have rejected the Congress, SP and Bahujan Smaj Party (BSP).

    It is only Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his development agenda and welfare schemes that are being discussed, he added.