RJD’s Chandra Shekhar compares Ramcharitmanas to potassium cyanide, stirs row

Bihar Education Minister Chandra Shekhar on Thursday stirred a controversy as he compared Hindu religious book Ramcharitmanas to potassium cyanide, a poisonous compound, reported PTI.

A video on social media shows the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader addressing a Hindi Diwas event where he said: “If you serve 55 kinds of dishes and mix potassium cyanide into it, would you eat it? The same is the case with scriptures of Hinduism.”

This is not the first time Shekhar has stirred a row with his comments on the Hindu epic. In January, the minister had said that Ramcharitmanas “spreads hatred in society”, reported India Today.

“A nation becomes great with love and affection,” he had said. “Books like Ramcharitmanas, Manusmriti and Bunch of Thoughts sowed the seeds of hatred and social divide. This is the reason why people burnt Manusmriti and took exception to a portion of Ramcharitmanas, which talks against education for Dalits, backwards and women.”

On Thursday, Shekhar claimed that while Hindu scriptures had many good things to offer, they were equally problematic in some aspects. He said that it is not just his view but even Hindi writer Nagarjuna and socialist thinker Ram Manohar Lohia have said that the Ramcharitmanas contain many regressive thoughts.

He added that while his...

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