RJD MLA Fateh Bahadur Singh has stirred a controversy saying that the goddess Durga is an imaginary character of a story.

“I admit to the existence of goddess Durga and 33 crore gods and goddesses in the country but when we became slaves, the population of the country was 30 crore. I want to ask a question to those who have described that Mahisasur had crores of warriors. Still, goddess Durga killed him. If that is true then where was she when a handful of British made us slaves?,” said Singh, the RJD MLA from Dehri assembly constituency.

“Devi Durga is an imaginary character of a story. She has no existence. She is a part of a fabricated story and has no truth,” Singh said while claiming that Mahisasur was his ancestor.

Fateh Bahadur Singh said that when British rulers attacked India, Durga who was considered as a goddess of three Lok (Mrityu Lok or earth, Patal Lok and Swarg Lok) “then why did she not save us”?

“Organising Durga Puja event is just a wasteful expenditure. As per Valmiki Ramayan, Gautam Budh was the first to come here and then Lord Ram. We also have objections over Lord Shiva and goddess Durga,” Singh said.

Fateh Bahadur Singh is known for making controversial statements on Brahmins as well.

Following his statement, BJP leaders sharply reacted and targeted Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav.

Nityanand Rai, MoS Home, condemned the statement, saying: “Those who are insulting Sanatan Dharma have blessings of Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav. I want to ask Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav to describe how good or bad this statement of Fateh Bahadur is. The leaders of RJD, Congress and Ghamandiya alliance have a habit of insulting Hindu gods and goddesses. He made a shameful comment which is highly condemnable.”

Nikhil Anand, the national general secretary of BJP OBC wing said that the continuous statement against Hindu religion, Sanatan Dharma and the way leaders of “INDI Alliance” are abusing Hindu god and goddess, Lord Ram, Lord Sri Krishna, religious book like Ramayan and now against goddess Durga.

“Recently, we have celebrated Durga Puja. We are watching that they have an agenda to abuse Hindu gods and goddesses. The idea is to appease their secular vote bank while disguising as socialist ideology. All these exercises are taking place to secure Muslim vote banks in the state,” he said.