Mayawati accuses SP leader of stirring religious couldron for pre-poll mileage

Lucknow: BSP President Mayawati on Sunday accused Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya of trying to drive a wedge between communities ahead of election with his comment on demolition of Buddhist monasteries in ancient India.

"The latest statement of Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya that many temples including Badrinath were built by demolishing Buddhist monasteries and why modern survey should be done not only of Gyanvapi Masjid but also of other major temples, is a purely political statement giving rise to new controversies," the Bahujan Samaj Party chief said in a tweet.

Mayawati also asked Maurya why he never raised such a demand when was a minister in the BJP government.

"Maurya was a minister in the BJP government for a long time, why did he not put such pressure on his party and the government in this regard? And now creating such a religious controversy at the time of elections. Buddhist and Muslim communities are not going to be misled by them," she said.

Maurya, the SP national general secretary, had recently claimed that Badrinath, a Hindu pilgrimage site, was a Buddhist monastery till the 8th century.

The SP leader also said authorities must do a survey on what lay before the temple where Gyanvapi mosque now stands.

"If there has to be a survey, then there should also be a survey of what lay there before the temple. All places of Hindu religion were earlier Buddhist monasteries. Temples were built by demolishing Buddhist monasteries," he had said.

Maurya had in January this year courted another controversy when he demanded expunging of certain verses in Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, which, he claimed, talk about caste and insult a large section of society.

The Allahabad High Court had on Thursday reserved its decision in Gyanvapi survey case. The court will pronounce the verdict on August 3. Till then the stay on ASI survey will remain in force.

The district court of Varanasi had recently ordered the Archaeological Department of India (ASI) to conduct a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, except for the wazoo Khana. But the Muslim side reached the Supreme Court, which directed the high court to hear the matter.