Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Swami Prasad Maurya has claimed that the sacred Hindu pilgrimage site, Badrinath Temple, was once a ‘Buddhist monastery’.
Speaking to the media on Thursday on the issue of a scientific survey of the disputed Gyanvapi structure, — a former UP cabinet minister who was earlier with the BJP — demanded that there should be an investigation into the status of all Hindu temples, too, because most such sites were formerly ‘Buddhist mutts’.
“If there is a talk about a survey by the Archaeological Survey of India, then why target only Gyanvapi ‘masjid’? There should be an investigation into the status of all Hindu pilgrimage (sites) because I know that most of them once used to be ‘Buddhist mutts’. Even Badrinath Dham until the 8th Century was a ‘Buddhist mutt’. They (Hindu temples) were set up after demolishing the mutts and hence, if old skeletons are to be dug out, there will be no end to the controversy,” he said.
After Maurya’s claim sparked a row, he took to Twitter on Friday and said, “It hurted, no; now, you are remembering the faith? Is the faith of others, not a faith? That’s why we had said that no one’s faith should be hurt, so any dispute can be avoided by considering the status of all religious places on August 15, 1947. Otherwise one should be ready to accept the historical truth. Badrinath was a Buddhist monastery till the 8th century, after that, this Badrinath Dham was made a Hindu pilgrimage site, this is a truth.”
Earlier, in January this year, Maurya had said that crores of people do not read the Hindu holy scripture Ramcharitmanas, and all this is rubbish. He further said that govt should remove certain objectionable parts of Ramcharitmanas or the entire book itself should be banned.
