DEHRA DUN: The Censor Board's decision to clip the popular satirical song "Nauchhami Narayan" by Garhwali folk poet and singer Narendra Singh Negi has further precipitated the controversy stirred by it over the past few months. The album by the same name became a huge hit selling over 3-lakh copies over the past few months.

The VCD shows characters depicting Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari and the two BJP Chief Ministers who held this office before him. The BJP had been using portions of the VCD to highlight the level of corruption in the Congress regime in its ongoing Parivartan Yatra much to the chagrin of the Congressmen. The Censor orders were preceded by the organisers of State-sponsored cultural events including Virasat disallowing Mr. Negi to perform although he had been invited to do so. Sore at this, Mr. Negi returned the Virasat Samman he had received a few years ago.

Describing the Censor Board's decision as politically motivated, Nationalist Congress Party State president Surya Kant Dhasmana on Thursday threatened to play the VCD at public rallies all over the State if the Censor order was not withdrawn immediately. "Instead of taking vindictive action against the poet and his works, the Tiwari Government would do better to order action on the enquiry reports of the sub-inspectors recruitment scam, patwaris recruitment scam, wastage of funds on unwarranted foreign travel by several politicians and bureaucrats, the State capital formation scam,etc," Mr. Dhasmana said.

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