Swami Prasad Maurya’s statement on goddess Lakshmi draws ire online

Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator Swami Prasad Maurya, who has often courted controversy in past with his seemingly radical statements, has yet again waded into a dispute.

In a post in Hindi on X to mark Diwali, the Uttar Pradesh SP leader raised questions about goddess Lakshmi, the Hindu deity of wealth, which has led to a fierce reaction among netizens, with many even demanding his arrest.

“Every child born in any religion, caste, race, colour and country of the whole world has two hands, two legs, two ears, two eyes, a nose with two holes, a head, stomach and back, but a child with four hands, eight hands, ten hands, twenty hands and a thousand hands has not been born till date, then how can Lakshmi be born with four hands?

"If you want to worship goddess Lakshmi, then worship and respect your wife who is a goddess in true sense because she fulfils the responsibility of nurturing, happiness, prosperity, food and care of your family with great devotion," he said in the post, which was accompanied by photographs of Maurya with his wife in which he is seen garlanding her and offering her gifts.

In the past, Maurya has also made statements against verses from the Ramcharitmanas, or the Tulsidas Ramayana as it is also known. Cases have been filed against him in various courts through the years.

His latest statement on goddess Lakshmi has likewise drawn flak from several people, among them Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnan, who has demanded action against the SP leader and said: “Maurya has got piles in his mouth, which explains the kind of statements he makes.”