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Former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister and prominent OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya had joined the Samajwadi Party in 2022 and unsuccessfully contested the assembly polls from Fazilnagar.

Last week, he stirred up a controversy by raising questions on the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Samajwadi Party nominated Ramjilal Suman, Jaya Bachchan and former IAS officer Alok Ranjan as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh. While actor-turned politician Jaya Bachchan has been nominated again for Rajya Sabha, this is the first time for Ranjan.

Swami Prasad Maurya wrote a letter to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and said that he would keep trying to strengthen the party even without being on any post.

On Ram temple, Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya says, "...To safeguard the constitution and the law and to protect peace, the then government gave shoot at sight orders. The government merely did its duty..."

India's number one and the most followed Super Prime Time News Show ‘Aaj Ki Baat- Rajat Sharma Ke Saath' was launched just before the 2014 general elections.

This was not the first time Swami Prasad Maurya made controversial remarks on Hindu religion. Earlier, he demanded a ban on Ramcharitmanas drawing legal actions.

The man claimed that Swami Prasad Maurya's daughter Sanghamitra, who is a BJP MP, married to him in 2019 and got remarried without divorcing him.

Maurya stoked controversy with his remarks over Goddess Lakshmi. Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam retorted to his statement and said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should "put a ban on his speaking".

"In real meaning, the Brahmin religion has been termed the Hindu religion, and there is a conspiracy to trap Dalits, tribals and backward people of this country," said the Samajwadi Party leader

Uttar Pradesh: A man dressed up as an advocate threw a shoe at Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya in Lucknow.

Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya said if BJP looks for temples in mosques, people will search for Buddhist monasteries in Hindu temples.

Swami Prasad Maurya receives death threat: SP MLC Maurya shared screengrabs of the Twitter post, and also tagged the Union Home Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office in another tweet asking them to take cognisance of the matter.

An FIR has been registered against the SP MLC Swami Prasad Maurya for allegedly making an "objectionable comment on Lord Ram" and hurting religious sentiments of Hindus.

Ramcharitmanas row: Earlier, Paramhans Das of Tapasvi Chhavni had announced a reward of Rs 500 for anyone who cuts the tongue of Maurya.

The protest was held in the Vrindavan Yojana sector apparently in solidarity with Maurya, who had on January 22 in a statement said the Hindu epic contained passages discriminatory of women and Shudras

Ramcharitmanas controversy: Earlier this month, the SP leader sparked a major controversy after he demanded the deletion of "insulting comments and sarcasm" targeted at particular castes and sects in Ramcharitmanas, a poem based on the epic Ramayana.

This came a day after the party President Akhilesh Yadav held a meeting at the party office.

"If SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya has some morality, he should immediately accept Islam, and his entire family should follow," Kushawaha said.

Ramcharitmanas row: It seems the controversy around 'Ramcharitmanas' will not die down very soon now as after Bihar, the row around the Epic erupted in Uttar Pradesh drawing sharp reactions from BJP members and religious leaders from the Hindu community.