LUCKNOW: US' Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) has classified VHP and Bajrang Dal as “militant religious outfits” and called RSS a nationalist organisation.

Apart from VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS, the CIA has included two more outfits under the title — ‘Political pressure groups and leaders’. While Hurriyat has been called a separatist outfit, the Mahmood Madani-led Jamiat Ulema-Hind has been listed as a religious outfit.

The references have been made in the CIA factbook on each country prepared on June 4 this year.

Bajrang Dal, founded in Uttar Pradesh in 1984, has around 2,500 akhadas across the country and has been demanding construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

The CIA report takes a dig at economic slowdown in 2011 during the UPA government, saying there was a decline in investment caused by high interest rates and rising inflation. It, however, makes an observation on how investors’ perceptions have improved in early 2014 due to expectations of post-election economic reforms. “Growth rebounded in 2014 through 2016, exceeding 7% each year,” it states.

Taking a dig at bank scams, the report says, “Despite high growth rate compared to the rest of the world, India’s government-owned banks faced mounting bad debt in 2015 and 2016, resulting in low credit growth. The economy slowed in 2017 due to shocks of demonetisaton and introduction of GST.”

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