All About Vikas Divyakirti Controversy? Why #BanDrishtiIas is trending on Twitter?

Dr Vikas Divyakirti, founder and managing director of “Drishti IAS”, is popular among the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam aspirants. He has taught for the past two decades with specialities in Hindi Sahitya, philosophy, history, and many other exam subjects

Drishti IAS, a popular UPSC coaching centre in Delhi, has been receiving flack from netizens since friday morning. #BanDrishtiIAS has been trending on Twitter after a video of UPSC coach Vikas Divyakirti went viral. In this video, Vikas Divyakirti is seen making allegedly offensive remarks while teaching the Sanskrit epic Ramayana to his UPSC students.

Born to a middle-class family in Haryana, Dr Divyakirti cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) in 1996 in his first attempt and was assigned to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. He resigned after a year and established Drishti IAS coaching classes in 1999, headquartered in Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi, and with branches in Prayagraj and Jaipur. His wife, Dr Taruna Verma, is also a director at the coaching institute.

The video was shared by RSS leader Sadhvi Prachi on Twitter with BanDrishtiIAS hashtag. Divyakriti can be heard comparing Sita with a ghee contaminated by a dog in the video.

“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.” coach Divyakirti was heard saying quoting a Sanskrit author. The video appears to be shot in a coaching classroom.

Twitter users are pushing for the coaching institute to be banned altogether. Many Twitteratis have taken offense to his statements and are accused the UPSC coach of hurting Hindu sentiments. On Twitter, the hashtag #BanDrishtiIAS is currently trending. Over a thousand #BanDrishtiIAS tweets have been sent out in just a few hours.

However, a few people came out in support of coach Vikas and said that he was just quoting a hindi novel.

A user wrote, "Whatever, he said is already mentioned in Baba Ambedkar's literature. Irony is that kangis are trending #BanDrishtiIAS to fool Hindus that we are in authority but you should raise your voice.