Professor triggers row by comparing Mamata Banerjee to Durga

LUCKNOW: Devendra Nath Singh, professor of Hindi at Dr Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University (DSMNRU), pulled down his Facebook post that likened Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to Goddess Durga, after it went viral and stirred controversy. Singh, however, blamed colleagues for "unnecessary politicising" the issue.

Singh, who is also spokesperson of the university, wrote on his FB post - Atal Bihari Vajpayee ne kabhi Indira Gandhi ko Durga kaha tha. Lekin mere hisab se Durga se milti julti koi chavi vastav mai banti hai to woh Mamata Banerjee ki. Delhi ke mukhya mantri ke daftar mai chapha markar CBI ka mann badh gaya tha. Kumbh snan kar tota seedhe Bengal ke liye udd chala tha. Tab tote bhai ko yeh nahi pata tha ki waha ranbakuri Mamata Didi rehti hai. Tota bechare tein tein kren lagey. Jai Mahisasura Mardini. (Vajpayee once called Indira Gandi as Durga. I consider Mamata Banerjee's personality close to Durga. CBI's spirits were high after raiding Delhi CM's office. The parrot flew straight to Bengal after taking a holy dip at Kumbh, but the poor parrot was unaware that it's the land of Mamata Didi, the fighter. The parrot was left whining. Hail Goddess Durga, the slayer of demon king Mahishasura.)

The post went viral with some teachers objecting to use of the word parrot, which they said referred to a ruling party leader. Associate professor Pushpendra Mishra, commerce department DSMNRU, who is also patron of the varsity's RSS-affiliated Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh, said, "Such derogatory remarks should not be made for anyone, be it a political leader or anyone. It's clear from the post to whom he's referring to as parrot. Being university spokesperson, he should have refrained from such comments."

When Singh saw the post was triggering controversy, he deleted it late on Tuesday night. "I am deeply hurt that the democratic right of freedom of speech and expression has been projected in a negative way by some university professors to level personal scores. This post was just a satire on the current tug-of-war in Bengal and was not against any politician, but some professors passed it on to media persons with a wrong interpretation. I decided to remove it after it was blown out of proportion," he said.

He said, he wrote the post in the capacity of a litterateur and not a professor. "One can find many such satirical posts on various issues and personalities in my FB account," he said and added he was felicitated by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Hindi Sansthan in 1998 for his writings - books and poetry.