A major controversy has broken out over a viral video of Dr Vikas Divyakirti, owner and director of popular UPSC coaching institute Drishti IAS, in which he said Lord Ram had compared Sita with ghee licked by a dog.
In a video which was captured in a coaching classroom, Divyakirti was heard quoting a Sanskrit author, “I (Ram) did not fight this war for you (Sita) but for the respect of my lineage. As ghee licked by a dog is not fit for eating, you Sita, are not fit for me.”
The statement has sparked sharp criticism and led to #BanDrishtiIAS trend on Twitter with some even demanding a ban on the coaching institute for hurting Hindu sentiments. However, a few students have come in support of the Divyakriti and have floated the trend #ISupportDrishtiIAS.
A Twitter user posted the full video of the statement and said that, “If you want #BanDrishtiIAS, then prove that Vikas Divya Kirti’s statement is wrong.”
“In UPSC such questions come like, evaluate feminism in the context of Tulsidas. Tulsidas omitted those parts in his ‘Ramcharitmanas’ and proved to be progressive. This is not what Ram is saying. But the writer is saying through Ram. Writers put their words in their characters’ mouths. But Tulsidas was modern, he saw the advent of feminism and did not include this in his book,” Divyakriti can be heard saying in the full video of the class.
Some supporters even claimed that the remarks are written in the Valmiki Ramayan.
Divyakriti even gave an interview to ‘The Lallantop’ in which he said whatever he claimed in the video is supported by documents. He clarified that the statement is not he saying it but are the writer’s words https://twitter.com/Saurabh_LT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1591129771312041984%7Ctwgr%5Ebfe6608a1bf78cf34b76f27960aea8549faa1ccc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftelanganatoday.com%2Fknow-why-drishti-ias-founders-comments-on-lord-rama-and-sita-landed-him-in-controversy
In the interview, he said he was quoting from a book by Purushottam Agarwal. “He has been a member of the UPSC which means we can quote him in our studies. I have not read the ‘Ramayana’ or the ‘Mahabharata’ in Sanskrit. I came across this in this book which cites Valmiki Ramayan itself,” Divyakriti said, citing the page numbers where the information can be found.
