Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav on Saturday hit out at Anjuman-e-Haideri for accusing Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) of targeting Muslims in the wake of COVID-19 and said such accusations were a result of RSS phobia.
"This pandemic is a challenge for the entire humty. It does not see any religion, any region. It does not see any country. In the fight against this pandemic, we all should be united. Anybody spreading any communal or negative sentiment should be condemned and rejected," Madhav told .
He said sometimes people tend to exaggerate and propaganda about Muslims in India being subjected to troubles and problems is certainly exaggerated propaganda.
"Islamophobia has become a fashionable slogan. Now everybody writes about it. Let me tell you. Such phobias exist in all societies. At some level, there can be Islamophobia for some people. There is Modi phobia here. There is RSS phobia here," he said slamming Anjuman-e-Haideri, the largest Shia orgsation in the country.
In a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the orgsation accused "Manuvadi forces including in RSS" of false and baseless campaign targeting Muslims. It talks about "anti-national groups damaging India's safety and security, creating hatred among different communities, orchestrating public strife and damaging India's relations with closer ally countries".
Madhav said different people have different phobias but all such phobias are bad.
"Islamophobia is bad. So is Modi phobia... so is RSS phobia. We should get out of these phobias. India is safe for all its 1.3 billion people," he said.
Madhav said anyone trying to spread any phobia using social media or any platform should be rejected and condemned by all responsible people.
"As far as RSS is concerned, it is always for unity of 1.3 billion Indians. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat spoke about it few days ago. He said whoever is spreading this disharmony between the communities, we all should be cautious and careful about such forces and we all should reject them," said Madhav.
He said what Bhagwat said was the message of the RSS and one should not get trapped into this phobia discourse. "Phobia discourse itself is very dangerous and harmful discourse," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )