Bihar education minister Chandrashekhar has triggered a major controversy by saying that the Hindu scripture Ramcharitmanas should be burnt like Manusmriti because it promotes caste division in society. He made the comments during the 15th convocation ceremony of the Nalanda Open University in Patna.
During his speech event, Chandrashekhar claimed that books like Manusmriti, Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas and Bunch of Thoughts by Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar worked towards keeping 85% of the population in the country backwards. He claimed that while Manusmriti abuses lower castes, Ramcharitmanas advocates keeping lower caste people illiterate.
He alleged that the three books, Manusmriti, Ramcharitmanas and Bunch of Thoughts have been spreading caste-related hatred in different eras.
He claimed that the verse in the Ramcharitmanas ‘adham jati me vidya paye, bhayatu yatha dudh pilaye’ means ‘Lower caste people become poisonous after getting education like snake becomes after drinking milk’. This is an often deliberately misinterpreted translation of the verse, because the word poisonous does not appear in the verse as claimed. It means that just like snake feels happy after drinking milk, the speaker – who is referring to himself as adham jati – also feels happy after getting education.
The Bihar education minister went on to say that Ramcharitmanas prevents Dalits, lower castes and women from getting education, and therefore it should be burnt. Dr Chandrashekhar further said that RSS is spreading hatred in the country.
After his speech, he reiterated his position while talking to reporters present there. He said that Manusmriti laid the seeds of hatred, after that Ramcharitmanas helped to grow it, and now Golwalkar’s book is expanding it.
He added that Ambedkar had burnt the Manusmriti, because it talks about depriving Dalits of rights. Similarly, Ramcharitmanas also has several such verses, he claimed.