Bihar cop compares PFI training camps to RSS shakhas, triggers BJP-RJD face-off

A massive political controversy has erupted in Bihar after a top police officer in Patna on Thursday compared the extremist Islamic outfit PFI to RSS shakhas when it came to training of youth in several disciplines like physical training and martial arts. Patna’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manavjit Singh Dhillon made these remarks while addressing the media on a terror training module busted earlier in the day, wherein two suspected terrorists, including a retired Jharkhand police officer, were arrested.

“The organisation worked at Masjids and Madrassas to mobilise youths and worked to radicalize them. The modus operandi was similar to that of RSS shakhas. 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, brain wash and mobilise people,” he said.

“No involvement of any mainstream religious institutions has been found. The accused, who used to be SIMI workers, stayed away from the public glare,” the SSP further added

“Organisations like the PFI have several underground cells. The accused held meetings in their name and organised training camps for its members. Their general vision document said that if people of the Muslim community are tortured and suppressed, they will work to protect them,” Dhillon said.

Soon after his remarks, the BJP asked for the removal of Dhillon from the post of SSP, while comparing him to a PFI spokesperson. BJP legislator from Bihar Harish Bhushan Thakur called Dhillon ‘mentally insolvent’ while demanding an apology for his statement.

Dhillon, however, found support in the opposition party RJD, which tweeted, “Patna’s Senior Superintendent of Police has rightly said about the modus operandi of the Sangh that these people spread their propaganda and hatred in the name of physical training! And in some areas, they carry out riots, mob lynchings and other anti-social harmony activities.”

The terror module was busted earlier in the day by the Patna police wherein two suspected terrorists were nabbed. According to initial probe, they were planning an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit on July 12. Several objectionable documents were seized during the raids, wherein plans were laid out to turn India into an Islamic nation by 2049.

“The arrested persons have been identified as Mohammad Jallauddin, a retired Jharkhand police officer, and Athar Parvez. They have links with PFI. Jallauddin was earlier associated with Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI),” Phulwari Sharif Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Manish Kumar had told news agency PTI.

“They were teaching locals how to use swords and knives and also instigating them for communal violence. An investigation has revealed that people from other states were visiting them in Patna. Those visitors used to change their names while staying in hotels in the Bihar capital to conceal their identities,” he further told PTI.