Union Minister Ashwini Choubey on Wednesday lashed out at Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, calling him “schizophrenic” and asked him to clarify “whether he was an Indian or a Talibani”. Choubey’s deeply personal attack on Tharoor comes after the latter slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), questioning if they have “started a Taliban in Hinduism.”

Hitting out at the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Choubey said, “Shashi Tharoor is suffering from schizophrenia. He doesn't know himself, he should classify is he is an Indian or a Talibani. Hindutva is an identity of this country and is a way of living. He is questioning Hindutva, RSS and a party like BJP who is devoted to the nation? What does Congress want?”

In the usual rhetoric of asking those who don’t agree with ‘Hinduism’ or ‘BJP’ to ‘ go to Pakistan’, Choubey added, “Who is Shashi Tharoor to use such language against Hinduism and RSS? People of his kind should be in Pakistan.” 

While addressing a party event in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, Tharoor made the controversial statement, asking if the BJP was attempting to infuse aspects of Taliban into Hinduism. He said, "They are asking me to go to Pakistan. Who has given them the right to decide that I am not a Hindu like them and hence can't stay in India? I am also a Hindu but I don't follow the Hinduism of the BJP. Have they started a Taliban in Hinduism?”

His statement came merely days after another of his statement regarding Hinduism and the BJP had created a massive political row. Speaking at an event a few days ago, Tharoor had claimed that country would turn into a ‘Hindu Pakistan’  if the Bharatiya Janata Party was re-elected in 2019, as they would “tear up the Constitution.” 

On Tuesday, Tharoor’s office in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram was allegedly attacked by BJP's youth wing activists over his ‘Hindu Pakistan’ remarks. Responding to the attack, Tharoor said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the attack was not only on “constitutionally provided office but larger attempt by ruling party to destroy idea of India and accepting pluralism.”