SP MLA Pallavi Patel sparks new row, says Tulsidas not a saint but just a translator

Samajwadi Party MLA Pallavi Patel has called to build a movement till 'hurting portions' in Ramcharitmanas are removed. She said she had not read Ramcharitmanas and she believed Tulsidas was just a translator but not a saint.

Gonda (Uttar Pradesh): Samajwadi Party MLA and Apna Dal Kamerawadi leader Pallavi Patel said that she does not believe in Ramcharitmanas. Talking to the media on Sunday at the PWD guest house here, Patel said, "There are numerous volumes of Ramayana, those who translated Ramcharitmanas, a poem based on the epic inducted some parts of Ramayana and added their thoughts. Particular castes and sects are targeted in Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas."

"It is not important to exclude a paragraph or a word, those are imprinted on people's souls and minds. If we have to remove them, we need to expand our movement. The movement should be so huge that those words are erased from people's minds. I have not read Ramcharitmanas, nor do I believe in it, and I also don't consider Tulsidas a saint, he was a translator."

Patel said that she was traveling to spread the message of equality in society and a revolution should be orchestrated to erase the words from the poem that hurt the sentiments of a particular community.

Pallavi Patel was on a one-day visit to Gonda, where she discussed the strategy for the upcoming civic elections in a meeting with the workers. Patel also said that if the removal of Article 370 improved the lives of the people, then it is a good step.

Earlier on Sunday, two persons, who had allegedly burnt copies of Ramcharitmanas, have been booked under the National Security Act (NSA). Last month, Swami Prasad Maurya also sparked a controversy after he demanded the deletion of "insulting comments and sarcasm" targeted at particular castes and sects in Ramcharitmanas.