Patna: Jitan Ram Manjhi, former Bihar Chief Minister irked Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), till last year his ally, by questioning the authenticity of Ramayana and the very existence of Hindu god "Shri Ram".
Irked by Manjhi's statement BJP MLA Haribhushan Thakur said why is Jitan Ram Manjhi not replacing the word 'Ram' with 'Rakshash' in his name as he does not believe in "Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram".
Thakur said:
"Manjhi put question mark on the existence of Ram. I want to ask Manjhi why his parents named him Jitan Ram Manjhi. Why is he not replacing his middle name with "Rakshash". He is doing cheap politics in the name of Maryada Purushottam Bhagwan Shri Ram."
Jitan Ram Manjhi on Tuesday said that he has no objection to the inclusion of "Ramayana" in the school syllabus of Bihar but he also courted controversy by saying that the story of Ramayan (Ramayan katha) is not based on truth.
"Ramayan has many good things which can be used to educate our children and women. Respecting our elders and women are the features of this book. I have no objection to including Ramayan in the syllabus. But I personally believe that it is an imaginary book. I don't think Ram was a great man and he was alive," Manjhi said.
Responding to Manjhi's comments, Nikhil Anand, National General Secretary of the BJP OBC wing said:
"Jitan Ram Manjhi is a senior leader of Bihar and he should avoid giving statements on anything that has chances of polarizing people. His statement is against every great man who comes from this soil. Whatever he said against Lord Ram may hurt a large number of people of the country. It was just cheap politics by Jitan Ram Manjhi."
The Ramayan is included in the syllabus of the schools of Madhya Pradesh and a discussion is currently underway in Bihar to introduce it in the state's syllabus as well.
Manjhi is not the only one who raised the questions over worshipping Ram. Notable among them is Dr BR Ambedkar who in “The Riddle of Rama” wrote, “There is nothing in this story (Valmiki’s Ramayana) to make Rama the object of worship.”
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