‘Has Javed Akhtar seen VHP karyakartas walk around with AK-47s?’

Javed Akhtar has been criticised by the BJP as well as the Sena

If there is one thing Javed Akhtar has inadvertently done with his controversial statement is bring the frenemies together. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been slamming the lyricist-writer-poet for the past two days, yesterday the Shiv Sena also took on Akhtar. The Sena has claimed that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is into nation-building and cannot be compared to the Taliban. Akhtar had said recently that all right-wing have a similar mindset. "Those who support the Bajrang Dal, RSS and VHP have parallels. Of course, the Taliban are reprehensible he claimed, but these outfits also have the same mindset," he said in response to a question about hate crimes.

Stone Age

"The Shiv Sena response," said Mumbai's Shriraj Nair, Jt Secretary, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Konkan and spokesperson, "is expected from the Shiv Sena, whatever be the differences with the BJP on the political front, they will also support the RSS, it is a Hindutva party. The Shiv Sena knows the RSS very well. The late Balasaheb Thackeray had very cordial relations with many RSS leaders. The VHP endorses that the RSS has always been into nation-building."

Nair claimed that there is a significant VHP and Bajrang Dal presence, close to where Akhtar lives in Juhu. He said, "This poet seems to be drawing parallels with the Taliban. Ask Akhtar whether he has seen VHP and Bajrang Dal karyakartas or any supporter of these outfits walking around in that area with an AK-47? Do the people he criticised as being like the Taliban force women to get into a ghunghat or purdah? We do not come from the Stone Age." Nair added, about the women argument, "We are liberals. We touch the Devi's feet and do not treat women like commodities. We are also not into conversion. Rather than accepting these truths, it is people like Akhtar who may slam the Taliban in a sentence or two, but then seek to ‘balance' that criticism by comparisons. This is not just like comparing apples to oranges, but as preposterous as comparing apples to watermelons."

Misguiding people

Nair also pointed out to a huge dichotomy, from so-called leaders and influential, famous persons from the Muslim community. "These are the same persons who will slam the West, but send their children to the West to study. They are the ones who do not guide but actually misguide their community and are hypocrites. These are the privileged ones who live in this country and do not have the guts to go to Afghanistan and criticise the ruling Taliban there because they know what the outcome will be. Here, they are free to criticise the majority. The more they talk, in fact, they are helping those who are their target as people do know the truth," said the VHP spokesperson. Nair also questioned Akhtar's mental equilibrium, calling him a "sulking, retired professional who is frustrated and depressed in the restrictive days of the Coronavirus outbreak".

Akhtar remained unavailable for comment.