Lucknow, July 30: Bahujan Samaj Party President Mayawati, on Sunday, lashed out at Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya and accused him of trying to create a division between communities ahead of the general elections.
Referring to Maurya’s statement, the BSP President said, “The latest statement of Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya that many temples, including Badrinath, were built by demolishing Buddhist monasteries and why modern survey should be done not only of Gyanvapi Masjid, but also of other major temples, is a purely political statement giving rise to new controversies.”
Mayawati also asked Maurya why he never raised such a demand when he was a minister in the BJP government.
“Maurya was a minister in the BJP government for a long time, why did he not put such pressure on his party and the government in this regard? And now creating such a religious controversy at the time of elections is designed to create a divide between Buddhist and Muslim communities but they are not going to be misled by him,” she said.
Maurya had recently claimed that Badrinath, a Hindu pilgrimage site, was a Buddhist monastery till the 8th century.
The SP leader also said authorities must do a survey on what lay before the temple where Gyanvapi mosque now stands.
“If there has to be a survey, then there should also be a survey of what lay there before the temple. All places of Hindu religion were earlier Buddhist monasteries. Temples were built by demolishing Buddhist monasteries,” he had said.
Maurya had, in January this year, courted another controversy when he demanded expunging of certain verses in Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, which, he claimed, talk about caste and insult a large section of society. (IANS)