The Bharatiya Janata Party may have once spearheaded the Ram temple movement but its controversial Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani has no qualms about describing the hero of the Ramayana as a “bad husband.”

Speaking at a function on Thursday to launch a book on man-woman relationship, Mr. Jethmalani said, “Ram was a bad husband. I don’t like him at all. Just because some fisherman said something, he sent that poor woman [Sita] to exile.”

He also took a jibe at Lakshman by saying he was “even worse.”

“When Sita was abducted, Ram asked him to go and find her as she was abducted during his watch. Lakshman simply excused himself saying she was his sister-in-law and he never looked at her face, so he wouldn’t be able to identify her,” Mr. Jethmalani said.

Earlier, he spoke against the misuse of religion and said: “Today we are at the crossroads of the very fate of this planet. Religion has totally changed. Religion has produced terror. Religion has produced those who issue fatwas of murder...”