Bihar police officer compares PFI with RSS, sparks row

CM seeks explanation; BJP leaders demand officer's apology

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R A senior officer of the Bihar Police on Thursday courted controversy after he allegedly compared the Popular Front of India with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The state police had on Wednesday busted a suspected terror module in Patna and arrested two persons having links with the PFI.

Explaining the modus operandi of the group, Senior Superintendent of Police Manavjeet Singh Dhillon said: "Like there are shakhas and training for using lathis by the RSS, similarly under the guise of physical education PFI were calling the youth to their center and promoting their ideology and attempting to brainwash them."

The officer's comments drew angry reaction from the BJP leaders who demanded his apology. "Patna SSP should immediately withdraw such statement and apologise for it," said Sushil Modi, a Rajya Saba MP and former deputy chief minister.

BJP MLA Haribhushan Thakur Bachaul said the SSP had lost his mental balance. “How can you compare a nationalist organisation like RSS with PFI?,” he asked.

Quoting sources, NDTV reported that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has directed top police officers to seek explanation from Dhillon within 48 hours.

The suspected terror module was busted in Patna a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the city on Tuesday.

Dhillon, while talking to media on Thursday, said whether the arrested persons had any plans during the prime minister's visit could be cleared only after their interrogation.

He, however, dismissed any possible links of the terror module with the controversial statements of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

"Any organization may have frontal and underground organizations. They were meeting under the cover of SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India) and PFI (Popular Front of India) but may be running their own agenda. Their activities were only limited to Bihar. We cannot call them sleeper cells as they are members of PFI and SDPI which are still not banned," he said.