Has BJP started a Taliban in Hinduism, asks Shashi Tharoor

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: His party may have issued a caution on the phraseology, but that wasn't stopping Shashi Tharoor from pursuing his line of attack against the BJP.

The Congress MP on Wednesday responded to the attack on his office by reportedly asking whether the BJP had started "a Taliban in Hinduism".

"They are asking me to go to Pakistan. Who has given them the right to decide that I am not a Hindu like them and I don't have the right to stay in the country? Have they started a Taliban in Hinduism?," ANI quoted Tharoor as saying at a public meeting in the city.


Last week, Tharoor had said that if the BJP wins the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it will create a condition leading to the formation of a 'Hindu Pakistan'. BJP leaders latched on to his choice of words to call the Congress "anti-Hindu".

Following the controversy, Tharoor's office in Thiruvananthapuram was vandalised by BJP activists. He also claimed he received death threats from them.

Tharoor's twitter handle also featured a post accusing the ruling party of vandalism after alleged BJP activists attacked activist Swami Agnivesh in Ranchi yesterday.

"Our politics has descended to the depths. Vandalism in the name of the ruling party is inexcusable," he said.

Later outside Parliament Tharoor rejected BJP demands that he should apologise for his statements.


"I will not withdraw any of my statements, instead those who attacked my office should tender an apology," he told ANI.