Senior Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Friday equated some "custodians of religion" with "terrorists" and "executioners".

In a tweet in Hindi, Maurya said: "Following a recent statement of mine, some custodians of religion had announced a reward for anyone who would cut my tongue and chop my head off.

"Had anyone else said this, these custodians would have called him a terrorist. Now, what should these seers, mahants, dharmacharyas and people from a particular caste be called? Terrorists, executioners or the devil?"

A prominent OBC leader from Uttar Pradesh, Maurya kicked up a controversy recently by alleging that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas "insult" a large section of the society on the basis of caste and demanded that those be "banned".