Swami Prasad Maurya was the labour minister in the Yogi Adityanath government between 2017 and 2022 and quit the BJP ahead of the last assembly election.

Uttar Pradesh News: Samajwadi Party national secretary Ram Govind Chaudhary Wednesday urged party chief Akhilesh Yadav not to accept the resignation of senior leader Swami Prasad Maurya even as former SP ally dubbed Maurya’s resignation as a “drama” amidst the backdrop his controversial comments on the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony and the Ramcharitmanas.

In a letter, Ram Govind Chaudhary requested Akhilesh Yadav not to accept the resignation of Maurya as the party’s national general secretary as he was countering “poison” being spread by RSS and BJP.

Maurya had on Tuesday resigned as the SP’s national general secretary accusing the leadership of discriminating against him and not defending him over his remarks.

“Under your successful leadership, every worker and leader of Samajwadi Party is struggling to reduce the effect of this poison of communalism and hypocrisy. Party’s national general secretary Shri Swami Prasad Maurya is also strongly opposing this poison of BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh due to which he is on the target of BJP and Sangh,” Chaudhary said in his letter to Yadav.

He said Maurya comes from a backward community and because of his “fighting instinct” he has a special place in this society.

“It is in the interest of the Samajwadi Party that he continues as an office bearer. Therefore, I insist that you do not accept his resignation,” Chaudhary, who is a former leader of opposition, said in his letter to Yadav.

‘Drama’

Meanwhile, reacting to Maurya’s resignation, former SP ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar dubbed it as a “drama”.

“This is just a drama. Instead of resigning from the party’s post, he should have resigned from the post of MLC. He became an MLC only because of the Samajwadi Party. He has resigned from party’s national general secretary post but will remain an MLC. This is a drama,” Rajbhar told news agency PTI.

Swami Prasad Maurya had recently sparked a controversy due to his controversial statements on the Ramcharitmanas and the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration ceremony.

‘SP leaders didn’t back my remarks’

Maurya had Tuesday tendered his resignation from his post as SP’s national general secretary.

“I continued trying to increase the support base of the party in my own way. I tried to bring back the self-respect of the tribal people, Dalits and backward classes, who had knowingly or unknowingly fallen into the BJP’s web and joined the party, by awakening and cautioning them,” Maurya said in his letter to party chief Akhilesh.

He claimed that the party leadership did not back him over his remarks and tried to discourage him.

“When I tried, some small and big leaders of the party tried to discourage me by saying ‘this is Maurya ji’s personal statement’, but I did not take it otherwise,” he said.

He  further said, “Even when I attacked hypocrisy, the same people were again seen saying similar things. I did not regret this either, because in accordance with the Constitution, I am raising people with scientific thinking and bringing people to SP.” He had said due to his personal efforts, the party’s support base increased and added that if there is discrimination even against someone holding the post of national general secretary, “then I think there is no justification for continuing in such a ‘bhed-bhavpurn aur mahatvheen’ (discriminatory and unimportant) post”.

“I will continue to work to strengthen the party without any post,” Maurya had said, in his resignation letter shared on social media.

Who is Swami Prasad Maurya?

A member of the state legislative council from the SP, Swami Prasad Maurya had joined the Samajwadi Party after quitting the BJP ahead of the 2022 polls and unsuccessfully contested the assembly polls from Fazilnagar. Notably, Maurya’s daughter Sanghmitra is the BJP MP from Budaun.

Maurya, who is considered a prominent leader of the backward classes in the state, has also been a member of the Legislative Assembly five times, a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, leader of the House and leader of the opposition (2012-17) when he was in BSP.

He was the labour minister in the Yogi Adityanath government between 2017 and 2022 and quit the BJP ahead of the last assembly election.

(With PTI inputs)