‘Keep swords at home to protect your women’: Pramod Muthalik to Hindus

• ‘Don’t keep swords hidden in sarees. The second you enter your homes, a long, shiny sword should be visible’
• ‘We should worship swords instead of tractors, books or pens’
• Pramod Muthalik is known for making controversial and incendiary remarks.

Ahead of the Karnataka assembly elections due in summer, the right wing groups have started ratcheting up anti-Muslim tirade with the latest rant emanated from the state’s infamous motor mouth Pramod Muthalik. The Hindutva hawk has asked Hindus to worship swords and display them at their homes to protect their women, religion and the country.

Addressing a Hindu convention on Friday, January 13, to mark the occasion of Swami Vivekananda Jayanti, the chief of the far right wing, Sree Ram Sene, said it was better to worship swords than tools or books on Ayudha Puja, observed widely in south India a day ahead of Dasara — which coincides with Vijaya Dashami — during which people worship articles linked to their occupation or vocation.

“We should worship swords instead of tractors, books or pens. We should display swords at our homes to protect our women,” Muthalik said at a convention to mark Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary in Yadravi, north Karnataka, on Thursday.

His comments came days after BJP parliamentarian Pragya Singh Thakur told Hindus to keep their kitchen knives sharp to save their women from Love Jihadis (Muslims).

Till Friday evening, there were no reports of any police complaint being lodged or FIR registered against the Hindutva hawk. The police had earlier, however, filed a hate-speech FIR against Pragya three days after her comments.

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.”

Muthalik, a former Bajrang Dal leader, said: “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’.

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?”

Muthalik, who formed Sri Ram Sene in 2005, is often identified for moral policing for attacking women going to pubs and those celebrating Valentine’s Day.

-INDIA NEWS STREAM