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Days after Patna cop remark, RJD leader says: 'PFI outfit is like RSS'| Watch
Jagada Nand Singh, the RJD's Bihar unit chief, has claimed that those arrested for "anti-national activities" or as "Pakistani agents" were linked to the RSS and the Hindu community.
Days after a Patna police official courted controversy after he compared the outfit - Popular Front Of India (PFI) - with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)- BJP's ideological parent, a leader from the Lalu Yadav-led RJD leader has drawn similar parallels.
Jagada Nand Singh, the RJD's Bihar unit chief, has claimed that those arrested for "anti-national activities" or as "Pakistani agents" were linked to the RSS and the Hindu community. In the same breath, he went on to say that the PFI is like the RSS.
In a video tweeted by news agency ANI, the RJD leader is also heard defending the PFI. He asks why the organization is branded as "anti-national" when all they want to do is serve their community. He also questions if talking to one's relatives in Pakistan now considered “anti-national” or a “security issue” for India.
Earlier this month, Patna’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manavjit Singh Dhillon compared the training of PFI with that of RSS shakhas, which invited a furore of BJP leaders who demanded action against the police officer.
Speaking at a presser to give details about the arrest of PFI activists, the cop had said: “Their (PFI) modus operandi was to act like an RSS shakha where lathi training is given…they would call them for physical training but also brainwash and radicalise them. They train the youth under the guise of physical education and spread propaganda and agenda."
"We got documents of camps teaching martial arts and training members to use sticks and swords under the guise of physical training. The document was being used to radicalise, brainwash and mobilise people,” he added.
“Any organisation may have frontal and underground organisations. They were meeting under the cover of SDPI and PFI but may be running their own agenda. Activities were only limited to Bihar. Not sleeper cells as they are members of the PFI and SDPI which are still not banned,” the SSP said.
The comments sparked protests from BJP leaders who demanded action be taken against the police official. Taking cognizance of the matter, ADG (headquarters) JS Gangwar had said: “We are getting the statement examined. If need be, action would be taken."
Meanwhile, the home ministry on Friday handed over the probe into the terror module unearthed by Bihar police last week, which allegedly has links with the PFI, to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
A string of arrests had been made by the Bihar police since July 13 from the Phulwari Sharif area of Patna for an alleged conspiracy to radicalize youngsters and train them for violent activities.
Among those arrested include Mohammad Jallauddin, a retired Jharkhand Police officer, Athar Parvez Phulwari Sharif, Nuruddin Jangi for allegedly teaching some youngsters how to use swords and knives and also instigating them for communal violence.
