On Thursday (27th October), a video clip of Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA Fateh Bahadur Singh became viral on social media in which he went on a bizarre rant against the Hindu deity Maa Durga. In his contentious remarks, Fateh Bahadur Singh claimed Lord Shiva created Maa Durga and married her, sparking outrage from Hindus who demonstrated against Singh’s derogatory remarks against Hindu Gods. Continuing his bizarre rant, Singh asked where was the goddess when the Britishers were committing atrocities. The incident took place at Rohtas in Bihar.
Dehri MLA Fateh Bahadur Singh attended a program during the worship of Maa Durga during Navratri days. There he raised objectionable questions about other gods including Maa Durga, which led to a fierce controversy. RJD MLA from Dehri Fateh Bahadur Singh also described Maa Durga as an invention by another god. When he was questioned about his remarks against the Hindu deities, the RJD MLA repeated what he said.
Fateh Bahadur Singh said, “Durga is an imaginary character of an imaginary story. I would have believed in it, but I have proof against it. If Durga Ji was there, or say according to the Manuwadis in our country, there are 33 crore deities. But India was enslaved when the British government came to power in India, and when they enslaved India, at that time there were 30 crore Indians. Plus Indians had 33 crore deities.”
He added, “I want to ask those Manuwadis, who wrote that Maa Durga fought against crores of soldiers in Mahishasur’s army and killed Mahishasur, what was Maa Durga doing when a handful of Britishers were busy making us slaves? She had tens of hands and at that time there were even more weapons. So, at that time why didn’t Maa Durga slaughter the British government?”
Not only this, RJD MLA Fateh Bahadur Singh raised questions about the birth of Goddess Durga and the vermilion (Sindur) of Maa Durga. The RJD MLA asked on which ground Durga killed Mahishasura. He said, “Manuvadis should clearly tell where Mahishasura was killed by Durga. All the gods came together and they did not kill Mahishasur, but they got him murdered through Maa Durga. Mahishasur was a powerful king from the Yadav community. Our hero was turned into a villain. I consider all my ancestors as heroes”
He said, “Manuwadis say that Durga was created by all the gods. So, Durga is the daughter of all the gods. On the other hand, they say that Durga is the wife of Lord Shiva. But Shiva is one of the gods who created Durga. So, Shiva married his daughter Durga. And why Durga was fighting Mahishasur in the night only? Why would she go there at night?”
On Thursday, there was a fierce protest in Rohtas against this. Hindu organisations protested against RJD on the street and demanded a public apology. After this video went viral, BJP and Bajrang Dal workers of Dehri got angry and burnt the effigy of the MLA. Along with this, an application was filed to register an FIR against MLA Fateh Bahadur in the Dehri Nagar police station.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Kumar Sinha said, “RJD people continuously insult Sanatan Dharma and their leaders sometimes raise questions on the existence of God. What kind of language do they use to hurt the children of Mother India? Lalu Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav should tell whether these people have faith or not in Sanatan.”