Javed Akhtar defends his remarks on Sangh Parivar: I find commonalities between Taliban, Hindu right

Mumbai, Sep 15: Popular lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar has defended his recent remarks against the Hindu right-wing groups where he drew a parallel between the Sangh Parivar and the Taliban. For him, both the Muslim fundamentalists and Hindu extremism are the same.

Akhtar, in an interview with the PTI, said that the Hindus are the most decent and tolerant people in the world. "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," he said.

The 76-year-old lyricist claims that he is opposed to ideas that divide the people based on caste, creed and religion. "My critics are also outraged that I find a lot of commonalities between the mindsets of Taliban and the Hindu right-wing. As a matter of fact, there is a lot of commonality. The Taliban is forming an Islamic government based on religion, the Hindu right-wing wants a Hindu Rashtra," Akhtar said.

Javed Akhtar finds many commonalities between the Taliban and the right-wing Hindu group. Explaining how, he said, "The Taliban wants to curb women 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; right from UP, Gujarat to Karnataka young men and women have been beaten mercilessly for sitting together in a restaurant or a garden or any public place.

He cited the example of a right-wing leader who claimed that the women are unfit to lead their lives on their own and both the Taliban-Sangh Parivar puts superiority of faith before the law or court.

Highlighting the intolerance towards minorities, the noted writer added, "The Taliban has no love lost for any minority; similarly, what kind of thoughts and feelings the Hindu right-wing nurtures for the minority is evident from their speeches and slogans and whenever they get an opportunity, by their actions,"

The writer further claims that the Taliban has full power in Afghanistan while India's secularism is protected by the constitution.

"Our constitution does not discriminate on the basis of religion, community, caste or gender. We have institutions like the judiciary and media too. The key point of departure between the two is the Taliban has achieved its goal in Afghanistan. The Hindu right-wing is doing its best to get us there. Fortunately, this is India and there are the Indian people who are providing a stiff resistance," he said.

In an interview recently on NDTV, Akhtar had spoken about the crimes against Muslims in India and such developments were "kind of a dress rehearsal for becoming like full-fledged Taliban". However, he did not expect his views to become a topic of debate.

"On one hand, there are some people who have expressed their outrage and anger in the strongest language possible, on the other hand, there are people from every nook and corner of the country who have given me messages of solidarity and expressed their total agreement with my point of view," he said in the statement.

"My detractors have said that while I am criticizing the Hindu right-wing I have never stood against fanatics among the Muslim fold. They have accused me of not saying anything about triple talaq, of not speaking on purdah or any other regressive practice within the Muslim community. I am not surprised at the fact that they are totally unaware of my activities over the years," he said.

"Over the past two decades, I have been given police protection twice because of the threats to my life from fanatical Muslims: first, because not only had I vociferously opposed triple talaq when the issue was not on the national radar, but I had, along with an organisation named Muslims for Secular Democracy (MSD), toured several cities across India like Hyderabad, Allahabad, Kanpur and Aligarh and from a variety of public platforms spoken out against this retrograde practice," Javed Akhtar concluded.