After the Shiv Sena, the party, condemned lyricist Javed Akhtar‘s comment comparing right-wing organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to the Taliban, Akhtar is now all praises of the Shiv Sena. He wrote ‘Hindus are the most tolerant majority, India can never be like Afghanistan’, in an opinion piece published on the party’s publication Saamana.
The veteran lyricist and poet, who is also an active commentatator on Indian polity, added that India could never be equated with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan as Indians are by nature moderates.
On September 3, in an interview with NDTV said that he can see an “uncanny resemblance” between the Taliban and the people in India who want to become like them. He said that they often have several comments and restrictions on women and are keen to turn the country into a Hindu rashtra.
He also mentioned that only a “minuscule of the Muslim population of our nation” is supporting the Taliban’s return but the majority has criticised the terrorist organisation’s recent takeover on August 15.
“Of course, the Taliban is barbaric, and their actions are reprehensible, but those supporting the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal are all the same,” he said in the NDTV interview.
Akhtar was both praised on social media and received major backlash for his comments. The BJP and the Shiv Sena criticised the opinion extensively.
Following this, Akhtar wrote an opinion piece in Saamana clarifying what he meant during the interview and praised Shiv Sena leader and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for saying “not even the worst critics can accuse him of any discrimination or injustice”. He added that one can’t even imagine how anyone can compare Thackeray’s governance with that of Taliban.
He wrote “Actually, in the recent interview, I have said ‘Hindus are the most decent and tolerant majority’ in the world. I have repeated this time and again and also emphasized that India can never become like Afghanistan because Indians by nature are not extremists. It is in their DNA to be moderate, to keep to the middle of the road.”
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The lyricist said that though there were some similarities between the Taliban and the extremist Hindu right-wing section, the two do not have the same agenda. “The Taliban wants to curb women’s rights and put them on the margin, the Hindu right-wing has also made it clear that they don’t like the freedom of women and girls,” he added.
On September 4, Ram Kadam, a Bharatiya Janata Party worker and Maharshatra’s spokesperson, threatened to prevent screenings of films involving Akhtar’s works, and demanded an apology for drawing a parallel between the Taliban and the Indian right-wing.
The Shiv Sena also came in defence of RSS and said Akhtar was”completely wrong” in comparing the two on September 6.
The Shiv Sena had also mentioned instances where RSS or the Shiv Sena itself did not support or accept any “madness” in the name of Hindutva citing the ‘beef issue’. In the editorial page of Saamana, it started “No frenzy in the name of Hindutva is accepted here… neither the Shiv Sena nor the RSS support that”.
Before his opinion piece in the Saamana, several leaders from the right-wing condemned Akhtar. On September 6, Ram Kadam, a Bharatiya Janata Party worker and Maharshatra’s spokesperson, threatened to prevent screenings of films involving Akhtar’s works, and demanded an apology for drawing a parallel between the Taliban and the Indian right-wing.
The Shiv Sena also came in defence of RSS and said Akhtar was”completely wrong” in comparing the two on September 6.
The Shiv Sena had also mentioned instances where RSS or the Shiv Sena itself did not support or accept any “madness” in the name of Hindutva citing the ‘beef issue’. In the editorial page of Saamana, it started “No frenzy in the name of Hindutva is accepted here… neither the Shiv Sena nor the RSS support that”.