Have they started Taliban in Hinduism: Shashi Tharoor lashes out over protests against him

BJP's youth wing activists had on Tuesday waved black flags at his office in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.

NEW DELHI: Amid protests against him over his 'Hindu Pakistan' remark, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor lashed out at the protestors asking them if they want to start 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," Tharoor said in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

Tharoor's remark comes on a day when the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) youth wing activists waved black flags at his office in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. They earlier defaced his office, poured black engine oil on signs, doors, walls & gate and shouted slogans asking him to go to Pakistan.

"Today @YUVAMORCHABJP vandals attacked my constituency office in Thiruvananthapuram. They poured black engine oil on signs, doors, walls & gate, drove away innocent citizens waiting with their petitions, put up offensive banners & shouted slogans asking me to go to Pakistan. We have all been warned. The BJP’s answer to the simple question “have you given up the dream of a Hindu Rashtra?” is apparently vandalism & violence.  That is the face they have shown in Thiruvananthapuram today. Most Hindus will say these Sanghi goondas do not represent us," he had tweeted after the his office was attacked.

Questioning the protest, Tharoor had asked if this is what people want in India. "People had come with their concerns but you scared them away from here. Is this what we want in our country? I am asking as a citizen, not as an MP. This is not the Hinduism that I know of," Tharoor said.

Thiruvananthapuram district BJP President S Suresh had said that the incident was a protest against a wrong statement. "This protest took place as Tharoor is the Lok Sabha member from here and hence this is nothing but a natural protest because of his erroneous statement," said Suresh.

Last week, Tharoor had said that India will turn into a "Hindu Pakistan" if the BJP comes back into power after 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The veteran Congress leader claimed that the saffron party will tear apart the Constitution of India and make their own set of rules. 

Tharoor had said: "The great danger is that if they (the BJP) are able to win a repeat of their current strength in the Lok Sabha, then frankly our democratic constitution as we understand will not survive because they will have all the three elements they need to tear up the Constitution of India and write a new one. That will be a new one which will enshrine the principle of Hindu Rashtra, will remove equality for minorities, that will create a Hindu Pakistan."