New Delhi: Belligerent Hindutva leader from Karnataka, Pramod Muthalik, has made it to the headlines once again, this time by asking Hindus to display swords at home and worship them in order to protect their women.
Muthalik, the national president of the Sree Ram Sene, was addressing a Hindu convention on Friday, January 13, to mark the occasion of Swami Vivekananda Jayanti in the southern state’s Yadravi town.
As per an India Today report, Muthalik, in a dramatic delivery, said, “Why shouldn’t we keep swords at homes? Keep talwars (swords) not to harm anyone but to protect your religion, your country, our sisters. Worship swords during Ayudh Puja.”
Even as a jubilant crowd screamed in support of his dramatic delivery, the known Hindutva hawk continued, “Don’t keep them hidden in sarees. The second you enter your homes, a long, shiny sword should be visible. Who has the right to touch Hindu women?” His remark was an oblique reference to ‘love jihad’.
Stating that the police would not lodge a complaint against anyone for keeping a sword at home, he said, “Police do not perform (Ayudh) puja to FIR book, but they worship their guns in the station. Therefore, why should we not adore swords at our homes?” A Deccan Herald report quoted him as saying, “We should worship talwar instead of performing Ayudh Puja to the tractor, books or pens.”
Every September/October, as part of Ayudh Puja that marks the conquest of goddess Durga over the demon Mahisasura, while also worshipping goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati, Hindu believers worship implements they use in various professions.
So far, no police complaint has been filed against Muthalik’s provocative speech. Recently though, acting on public pressure, the state police had filed an FIR three days after another Hindutva leader and Lok Sabha MP, Pragya Singh Thakur, delivered a hate speech.
Muthalik, a former Bajrang Dal leader, who went on to form Sri Ram Sene in 2005, is often identified for moral policing for attacking women going to pubs and those celebrating Valentine’s Day.
Elsewhere in the Gadarpur area of Uttarakhand, former Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia was heard telling local media that trishuls (tridents) would be distributed to over two crore Hindu youths to protect themselves.
“As part of (his current organisation Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad’s) Veer Hindu Vijaita Hindu campaign, over two crore Hindu youths would be given tridents aside from training them in sports, etc,” he said.