Samajwadi Party general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya quits post, cites discrimination

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party National General Secretary Swami Prasad Maurya has announced that he has quit his post, accusing the party leadership of "discriminating" among the party functionaries and failing to "discipline" the leaders who had attacked him over his remarks.

In his resignation letter to party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Maurya said that he would "continue to work to strengthen the party without any post".

Maurya, in his letter to Akhilesh, said that some senior SP leaders tried to portray his remarks against ''orthodoxy, superstition'' and ''irrationality'' prevailing in a section of the society, as his ''personal opinion'' and not of the SP although the remarks were intended to unite the Dalits and oppose the caste-based discrimination in the society.

''My remarks were termed as my personal opinion though my intention was to prevent the Dalits and the backward castes from falling into the trap of the BJP," he said in the letter.

Maurya stated in the letter that he wondered how the remarks of a national general secretary became his ''personal opinion'' while the statements made by some other leaders became the remarks of the party.

He, however, thanked Akhilesh for sending him to the UP legislative council and said that he would continue to discharge his functions as an ordinary SP worker. 

Maurya, who had crossed over to the SP from the BJP in 2022, had triggered controversy ahead of the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple by defending firing on the 'karsevaks' in Ayodhya during the then Mulayam Singh Yadav regime.

Maurya's remarks had triggered a massive backlash from the seers, one of whom even announced a cash reward for whosoever chopped the SP leader's tongue. 

His remarks had also triggered unease among the SP legislators, many of whom complained to Akhilesh in this regard and urged him to restrain Maurya. ''Maurya's family members visit temples and follow Hindu rituals but he always speaks against Hinduism,'' SP legislator Rakesh Pratap Singh had said.

Akhilesh had told the party leaders to refrain from speaking on religious issues saying that it was a "trap" by the BJP. ''We should focus on issues like inflation, unemployment and expose the BJP government,'' he had told the party leaders.