Patna: On Friday, BJP fumed on Former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s remarks made against Lord Ram. He said that Lord Ram was a mythical character and “not a god”.
“I don’t believe in Ram. Ram was not God. Ram was a character created by Tulsidas and Valmiki to spread their message,” former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has said.
“They wrote the Ramayan and there are many good lessons in their writings. We believe that. We believe in Tulsidas and Valmiki, not Ram,” said Manjhi, whose son Santosh Manjhi is in the Nitish Kumar-BJP cabinet in Bihar.
Manjhi, the leader of the Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM), a coalition partner in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, was speaking at an event commemorating the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the architect of India’s constitution, on Thursday.
“If you believe in Ram, then the story we always heard is that Ram ate fruit tasted by Shabari. You will not eat the fruit we bite into but at least eat what we touch,” Manjhi said, apparently referring to the caste divide in the country.
He claimed that the world is divided into only two castes: affluent and poor. He also went after Brahmins, accusing them of prejudice against Dalits.
Manjhi had questioned the practice of untouchability and pointed out that as per the epic Ramayana, Lord Ram partook of fruits offered by a forest-dwelling devotee, Shabari.
The BJP, which owes its rise to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, fumed at Manjhi over his remarks. BJP questioned Manjhi over his faith and warned him of the damnation that shall befall him for denigrating a divine entity.
Former Deputy CM and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi said, “It is laughable to call oneself a ‘vanshaj’ (descendant) of Shabari but cast doubts on the existence of the one she worshipped.” State BJP spokesperson and OBC Morcha national general secretary Nikhil Anand wanted to know whether Manjhi was an atheist, and, if not, “which god does he believe in”.
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