‘Misguided Malayalis who joined Taliban’: Shashi Tharoor’s tweet sparks row

Congress MP Sashi Tharoor Tweet sparked a massive row after he doubted that there were two Malayali Taliban in one of the celebratory videos of the group that emerged after the takeover of Kabul. Taking his official Twitter account he shared the video and wrote, . “It sounds as if there are at least two Malayali Taliban here — one who says “samsarikkette” around 9-second mark and another who understands him!”

However, the video was posted by the name Ramiz who later clarified that there are no Kerala-origin fighters in the rank and file of Taliban. He wrote, “They are Baloch from Zabul province who speak Brahvi and Bravhi language is widely spokes among them. It is a Dravidian language which is very similar to Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam etc,”

The Congress MP further replied, “But there have indeed been misguided Malayalis who joined the Taliban, so that possibility cannot be ruled out entirely,”

However, few Twitter users have accused him of branding the entire Malayali community as terrorist sympathisers because of just one word. One user said, “Such a statement should not come from the MP,” as it would only fuel “right wing’s hate campaign against Kerala”. Tharoor, also added, it’s because he is the MP that he is aware of the situation.

Earlier, the MP was approached by Kerala women whose daughters were stuck in Afghanistan after “having been taken there by their misguided husbands,” He wrote adding that he had also arranged a meeting with then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on this issue. “Obviously, it’s as an MP that I am aware of the situation,”

Then Tharoor shared a news article about Nimisha Fathima, a Keralite woman who landed in Afghanistan jail following the killing of her IS husband a couple of years ago, and wrote, “I am sure all those who decried my tweet about the possibility of Malayalis in the Taliban will now notice the ones who were released from the government’s prisons today.”

The news article of Matrubhumi that Tharoor shared said that the Taliban released over 5,000 prisoners — mostly belonging to Taliban and Al Qaeda — from Kabul jails. According to the report, there were eight Keralites among those who were freed including Nimisha.