New Delhi: Hindu Mahasabha and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers staged protest against Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, over the remarks of SP Legislative Council member Swami Prasad Maurya on Hindu epic Ramcharitmanas, in Lucknow on Saturday.


Akhilesh Yadav, who reached Lucknow to take part in the 108th Mahayagya at Maa Pitambara temple, was opposed by Hindu Mahasabha and BJP workers, who raised blag flags and slogans as a mark of protest against the controversial remarks of Maurya.   


Slamming the saffron party, the SP chief said, “BJP is not being able to tackle serious issues of price hike and unemployment and so they are resorting to politics over this. The administration had already removed police personnel from the area which led to the chaos.”






Notably, in the wake of the controversy over his remarks, Swami Prasad Maurya met Yadav and discussed the caste-based survey earlier in the day.


According to a report by news agency PTI, Maurya reached the SP office around noon and held a meeting with Yadav for around 90 minutes. He later said that the meeting was about various issues, including the speeding up of campaign for caste-based survey.


Meanwhile, asked if there was any talk about his remarks on Shri Ramcharitmanas in the meeting, the former cabinet minister said, "SP President Akhilesh Yadav will answer this in the House as Leader of the Opposition. Yadav will also give the party's view on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stating in Rajasthan on Friday that Sanatan dharma is the country's national religion.”


"The Bharatiya Janata Party government is ending the reservation for Dalits, backward and deprived. In such a situation, the SP will come with a new strategy regarding the demand for caste-based survey," he added.


Notably, Maurya courted controversy when he referred to a couplet in Shri Ramcharitmanas and called it derogatory towards women and backward people and demanded a ban on it.