Samajwadi Party MLA Swami Prasad Maurya courted controversy with his remarks on Hindu Goddess Lakshmi on the occasion of Diwali.
In a post of X, the MLA said, “How can Goddess Lakshmi have four hands?” He said every child born in the world, regardless of religion, caste, race, colour or country, is born with two hands, two feet, two ears, two eyes, a nose with two nostrils, and one head and stomach.
“A child with four hands, eight hands, ten hands, twenty hands, or a thousand hands has never been born. So how can a four-handed Lakshmi be born? If you truly want to worship Goddess Lakshmi, honour and worship the women in your households who are the true embodiment of the goddess. They faithfully fulfil the responsibilities of nurturing and caring for the family's well-being, prosperity, sustenance, and overall welfare,” he said.
Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam criticised Maurya’s comment. This comes just days after Maurya stirred a heated debate by criticising the “Sanatan Dharma”. While speaking to ANI, Krishnam said, "Swami Prasad Maurya has piles in his mouth. He needs treatment. I will ask Yogi Adityanath to impose a ban on Maurya speaking."
In April, an FIR was lodged against the MLA in Rae Bareli in connection with a video that purportedly showed him making an "objectionable comment on Lord Ram". In the video, Maurya can be heard saying, “Mile Mulayam Kanshi Ram..." and pauses for the crowd to complete the sentence saying "...Hawa main ud gaye Jai Shri Ram". The complainant, Hindu Yuva Vahini worker Marut Tripathi, alleged that such comments by Maurya were vitiating the atmosphere and leading to a communal flare-up. He had allegedly raised the objectionable slogan on April 3 while speaking during an event where SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had unveiled a statue of Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram at a private college in Rae Bareli.
In January, Maurya was booked by the Lucknow police for his remarks on Ramcharitmanas. He had said many have not or do not read Ramcharitmanas.
He said it was the British era that gave Dalits the right to read and write and that women got their right to be literate under the British Raj.
He termed the Hindu religious text “all nonsense” and urged the government to erase the objectionable part of Ramcharitmanas or ban the entire book.
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