Swami Prasad Maurya (born 2 January 1954) is an Indian politician and was a member of the

17th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Seventeenth Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh (Seventeenth Vidhan Sabha of Uttar Pradesh) was constituted on 19 March 2017 as a result of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, 2017 held between 11 February to 8 March 2017. The L ...

of India. He represented the

Padrauna Padrauna is a city and headquarter of Kushinagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the place where Rama spent a few days of his life. After passing from Padrauna, Rama reached at Ramkola where he made a hut with his wife Sita ...

constituency of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. He is a member of

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as well. With ...

. Maurya has been a

Member of the legislative assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

for five terms, has been minister in the

government of Uttar Pradesh The Government of Uttar Pradesh ( ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of ...

, Leader of the house and Leader of opposition. He was serving as Cabinet Minister for Labour, Employment and Co-ordination in Yogi Adityanath ministry. Until 2021, he was a member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

which he joined after a long stint with

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), a ...

Early life and education

Swami Prasad Maurya was born on 2 January 1954 in a family of Chakwadh, Pratapgarh,

to Badlu Maurya and Jagannathi Maurya. He is married to Shiva Maurya, with whom he has a son and a daughter. His daughter,

Sanghmitra Maurya Sanghmitra Maurya (born 3 January 1985) is an Indian politician and a member of the 17th Lok Sabha. She was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India from Badaun, Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 Indian general election as a ...

is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Budaun. He attended the

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

and attained

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of ...

and

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

degrees.

Political career

Maurya has been a MLA for five terms. He represented the

constituency and was a member of the

Bhartiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

political party. He was previously a member of

and was elected in the assembly as a member of BSP. On 22 June 2016, Maurya resigned from all party posts alleging "money for ticket" syndicate being run by the party, this claim was later denied by the BSP supremo

Mayawati Kumari Mayawati (born 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician. She has served four separate terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social chan ...

in a press conference on the same day, where she thanked Maurya for doing courtesy on the party for leaving on his own, otherwise he was about to be expelled for promoting dynastic politics within BSP. In July 2016, Maurya announced that the formation of his organisational unit called Loktantrik Bahujan Manch which launched at

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and divisio ...

’s Ramabai Ambedkar Rally Ground. In March 2017, he is appointed as Cabinet Minister in

Uttar Pradesh Government The Government of Uttar Pradesh ( ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President ...

. He go ministries of Labour and Employment exchanges, Urban employment and Poverty alleviation in Yogi Adityanath ministry. On 21 August 2019, after first cabinet expansion of

Yogi Adityanath Yogi Adityanath (born on 5 June 1972 as Ajay Singh Bisht),

his ministry department changed as Minister of Labour, Employment, Co-ordination. On 11 January 2022, Swami gave a huge setback to

(BJP), by resigning from the post of cabinet minister of the Yogi Adityanath ministry and as well as from BJP just a month before the assembly elections. He said that BJP has done injustice to almost all sections of society, such as, why he resigned. BJP claims that he resigned since he was told that his son will not get a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA) ticket from BJP for the upcoming

2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Uttar Pradesh from 10 February to 7 March 2022 in seven phases to elect all 403 members for the 18th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 10 M ...

. Maurya joined

in January 2022, but was denied ticket from his stronghold

, instead was asked to fight from Fazilnagar, which he subsequently lost in the

against

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

's Surendra Kumar Kushwaha.

Posts held

Personal life

Maurya is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and an

Ambedkarite Ambedkarism is called as the teaching, ideology or philosophy of B.R. Ambedkar, an Indian econonist, polymath, barrister, social reformer, human-rights advocate, and the architect of Indian Constitution. Ambedkarism includes the principles of N ...

, follower of

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

. His daughter,

, was elected to Lok Sabha in 2019 General Elections, while his son Utkrisht Maurya is also a politician who unsuccessfully contested Assembly elections twice from

Unchahar Unchahar is a town and nagar panchayat in Raebareli district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of a tehsil as well as a community development block. It is located on National Highway 24B (India), Lucknow Allahab ...

Raebareli Raebareli is a city in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Raebareli district and a part of Lucknow Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Sai river, southeast of Lucknow. It possesses man ...

Controversy

Swami Prasad Maurya had alleged about some verses of the Hindu religious text

Ramcharitmanas ''Ramcharitmanas'' ( deva, श्रीरामचरितमानस, Rāmacaritamānasa), is an epic poem in the Awadhi language, based on the '' Ramayana'', and composed by the 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Tulsidas (c. 1532–1623). T ...

that the Shudra caste has been degraded in it. He said that such verses should be banned and he would burn the book on which

was burnt by his supporters, he was lashed by all the Hindu organisations, as well as VHP burnt his effigy and also demand to arrest him for sacrilege of Ramcharitmanas. For his coarseness towards Ramcharitmanas he was promoted to General Secretary of

Akhilesh Yadav Akhilesh is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Akhilesh Das (1961–2017), educationist, professor, Indian politician and philanthropist *Akhilesh K. Gaharwar (born 1982), Indian academic and Professor at Texas A&M University *Akh ...

. When the dissent erupted the Party distanced itself from Maurya saying that were personal remarks of and has nothing to relate with the party. VHP also demanded the

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, dir ...

to de-list

and lodged an

FIR Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to ...

against him for which he was arrested by the

Uttar Pradesh Police The Uttar Pradesh Police (UP Police), ( IAST: ), is the primary law enforcement agency within the Uttar Pradesh state of India. Established in 1863 as the Office of the Inspector General of Police, United Provinces under the ''Police Act, 1861' ...

later. https://www.abplive.com/news/india/ramacharitmanas-row-swami-prasad-maurya-statement-hindu-muslim-oppose-read-full-2314965

References