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Maurya is a known face in UP for making controversial remarks and big claims
NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party’s controversial leader Swamy Prasad Maurya, who has often found himself in middle of controversies, on Sunday questioned the presence of “fundamentalist Brahmin seers from the South” at the inauguration of the new parliament building – conveniently ignoring the attendance of leaders of all religions.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi installed the historic sceptre ‘Sengol’ inside the brand new Lok Sabha chamber, Maurya – SP’s national general secretary – took to Twitter to allege that the Modi government had ignored India’s secular fabric by not inviting religious leaders of all faiths.
“It is extremely unfortunate that only fundamentalist Brahmin gurus of the South were called in the installation worship of Sengol Scepter. If the BJP government had faith in India as a secular sovereign nation, then all the religious leaders of the country should have been invited,” Maurya tweeted in Hindi.
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He further accused the BJP government of displaying a “corrupt mentality” and promoting Brahminism by excluding leaders from various faiths such as Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Christianity.
However, Maurya did not pay heed to the fact that around a dozen religious leaders including a pastor, an imam, a temple priest, Sikh clergies, and a Buddhist monk performed ‘sarva dharma” prayer in the presence of PM Modi, his Cabinet colleagues, and other dignitaries at the new parliament building complex.
The Sengol installation ceremony, marked by Vedic chants from priests of Karnataka’s Shringeri Math, saw PM Modi performing the “Ganapati Homam” to invoke blessings for the inauguration. He then placed the historic ‘Sengol’ scepter, symbolizing the transfer of power to Indians in 1947, near the Speaker’s chair in the Lok Sabha.
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Maurya, who previously served as a Cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath government in UP, has been known for his controversial statements. Earlier this year, he faced backlash for his comments on the Hindu religious text Ramcharitmanas, calling it “nonsense” and demanding its censorship or banning. Maurya has been booked in multiple FIRs for his remarks.
Notably, the Samajwadi Party along with close to 20 other political parties has boycotted the inauguration of the new parliament, arguing that it was an “insult” to the Constitution for the new complex to be launched by PM Modi, and not President Droupadi Murmu – India’s constitutional head.
