An opposition politician from the Indian state of Bihar has triggered a controversy by equating the federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s ideological ally the RSS with the Taliban* militant movement of Afghanistan.
“Taliban is not a name but a culture in Afghanistan and in India this RSS is Talibani, nothing else…,” Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party’s state unit president Jagdanand Singh said as cited by media while addressing his fellow party members.
The RJD is the main opposition party of Bihar state, which is presently ruled by the Janata Dal-United party in alliance with the BJP.
During his speech, the RJD leader went on to allege that the “RSS is Taliban in India[…], they cut beards of people and beat people selling bangles.”
Singh was apparently referring to some recent incidents in the BJP-governed Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh states. On 22 August, a Muslim man was assaulted in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city for selling bangles in a Hindu-dominated locality. Local media said he was assaulted by the Hindu group Bajrang Dal, which is associated with the RSS. Similarly, in June, an elderly Muslim man, Abdul Samad Saifi, aged 72, was assaulted and his beard was chopped off in Uttar Pradesh state.
While further hitting out at the BJP's ally, Singh said that the Taliban is known for spreading communal hatred and the RSS is doing the same in India.
* The Taliban is a terrorist organisation outlawed in Russia and many other countries