Ex-Bihar CM Manjhi again stokes controversy, calls lord Ram 'imaginary', hails Ravan for being 'hardworking'

Ex-Bihar CM Manjhi again stokes controversy, calls lord Ram 'imaginary', hails Ravan for being 'hardworking'

In a statement that could rake up another political controversy, Manjhi has called lord Ram and Ramayan as "imaginary".

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Friday, March 17, 2023, 04:10 PM IST
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Former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has reignited a controversy by questioning the authenticity of Ramcharitmanas and Ramayana, which have been the subject of criticism by several parties from UP and Bihar like Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ท๐—ต๐—ถ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐—บ, ๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜†

In a statement that could rake up another political controversy, Manjhi has called lord Ram and Ramayan as "imaginary".

"Whether these people (BJP) talk about Ram or Ravanโ€ฆwe consider them all imaginary. Its all based on imagination and not factual. We should talk about the poor. There should be the talk of eradicating poverty. If the story is to be told, Ravan was more hardworking than Ram. But, it is all imaginary. We do not believe in all this," the former Bihar CM told reporters outside the legislative assembly in capital Patna.

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜€: ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ท๐—ต๐—ถ

He expressed doubts about the works of renowned poets, Valmiki and Goswami Tulasidas, and suggested that certain inaccuracies in the Ramayan and Ramcharitmanas need to be corrected.

Manjhi made the statement in the aftermath of BJP lawmakers reciting Hanuman Chalisa in the state assembly house on the first day of budget session.

JD(U) MLA Jama Khan, attacking the BJP, said religious texts should be read at home and it's not okay to do all that in the Assembly House. He said that BJP was intentionally doing all this to create unnecessary controversy.

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