4 min readPatnaJan 13, 2023 08:30 AM IST
First published on: Jan 13, 2023 at 08:30 AM IST
RJD leader and Bihar education minister Chandra Shekhar is facing criticism from the Opposition as well as the ruling alliance partners following his controversial remarks on the religious epic Ramcharitmanas, based on Ramayana.
While the RJD has maintained that the minister was quoted out of context, the Congress, an ally in the the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, has slammed the comment as “unacceptable” and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said he will speak to his Cabinet colleague.
The BJP has demanded the minister’s ouster for hurting Hindu sentiments and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) has sought Professor Chandra Shekhar’s apology over the same.
The minister, meanwhile, has stuck to his guns, saying he will seek “expunction of all verses from the book that condone social discrimination”.
The minister, while addressing the convocation at Nalanda Open University on Wednesday, has said that Manusmriti, Ramcharitmanas and A Bunch of Thoughts (by M S Golwalkar) are “divisive texts” and B R Ambedkar was right in opposing Manusmriti.
Asked about his controversial statement, Prof Chandra Shekhar told reporters on Thursday, “I have not said anything regarding Ramcharitmanas but certain verses found in Uttarkand and Aranyakand in the book.” He said he was ready to engage in a debate with religious preachers over the “discriminatory verses” and wanted them removed from the book.
Terming the RJD leader’s statement “anti-Hindu”, the BJP dared him to speak against Islam.
BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said, “The (Bihar) education minister’s remarks are not only unfortunate but anti-Hindu. They show his lack of education.”
BJP’s Bisfi (Madhubani) MLA Haribhushan Thakur said, “If Professor Chandra Shekhar has such tremendous knowledge of religious texts, can he dare to speak a word against Islam?”
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, while replying to queries on his minster’s comments in Darbhanga district, which he visited as part of his state-wide outreach programme ‘Samadhan Yatra’, said: “I don’t know about the matter. But I will enquire (with the minister).”
Attacking the Chief Minister, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “Why is Nitish Kumar silent? He should answer. The country will not tolerate if Lord Ram is disrespected. He should take his (minister) resignation and apologise for hurting the country’s sentiments.”
LJP (Ramvilas) head and Jamui MP Chirag Paswan termed the minister’s comment “incendiary”. “It does not behove a state education minister to speak like this. He has hurt popular sentiments and should apologise,” he said.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said any scripture is a reflection and product of the times from which it comes. “To try and reinterpret the context, misinterpret the context and make such remark is not right, because these remarks at the end of the day, divide. Such remarks are absolutely unacceptable to the Congress party,” he told reporters.
RJD national spokesperson Subodh Kumar Mehta told The Indian Express: “The BJP has overlapped the thought of the education minister, who was referring to culture hegemony and the Constitution’s spirit of mutual respect and equal opportunity. The Constituent Assembly had a debate that wanted to transform medieval India into modern India on basis of scientific education and division of labour.” On the minister’s remarks, Mehta said: “He should have ignored the medieval thought process as the state believes in constitutionalism.”
(With PTI inputs)
Professor Chandra Shekhar has stuck to his guns, saying he will seek “expunction of all verses from the book that condone social discrimination”. (Twitter/@@ProfShekharRJD) 
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