Swami Prasad Maurya, a leader of the Samajwadi Party, got into a physical altercation with Mahant Raju Das of the Hanuman Garhi temple in Ayodhya at a five-star hotel in Delhi on Wednesday, February 15. The leader has previously been involved in a controversy over his remarks on Ramcharitmanas.
Both Maurya and Das were present at the hotel to attend an event organised by a private TV channel. While attending the event, the two engaged in a heated argument which eventually turned into a physical fight. Security personnel at the hotel intervened to separate the two men. The altercation was also widely shared on social media.
According to a report by India Today, the Samajwadi Party leader has written to the Lucknow Police commissioner regarding the incident. He also alleged that following the incident, Das and his supporters from Ayodhya attempted to attack him with swords and sticks. He further questioned the level of security at the five-star hotel and has requested extra protection from the police.
In a separate incident last month, Das had offered a reward of Rs 21 lakh for anyone who could "behead" Maurya over the latter's comments regarding certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas and his demand that they be banned. Maurya had kickstarted a controversy on January 22 when he alleged that certain verses in the Ramcharitmanas "insult" a large section of society on the basis of caste as he demanded a ban on those passages in the text.
