Pramod Muthalik, leader of the right-wing group Sri Rama Sene, sparked a row with his comments on ‘Love Jihad’ at a public rally in Karnataka’s Bagalkot on Sunday, February 19.
‘They are trapping Hindu women through ‘love jihad’. I am instructing our workforce, if we lose one Hindu girl, we must trap 10 Muslim women,” he said during the meeting.
“If you do so, the responsibility of your protection and employment will be taken up by Sri Rama Sene,” he added.
He claimed that many Hindu women were ‘falling prey’ to ‘Love Jihad’. “Our girls are exploited in love jihad. Across the country, thousands of girls are cheated in the name of love. We should warn them,” he pointed out.
Muthalik during his speech also said that “every Hindu must keep a weapon at home” for the “protection of cows, women and temples.”
‘Love Jihad’ is a bogus theory spread by right-wing outfits to achieve religious polarization and refers to Muslim men trapping or luring Hindu women into marrying them and then converting them to Islam.
It is to be noted that the BJP-led Union government told the Lok Sabha that no case of love jihad has been booked by central agencies, and the BJP government in Karnataka admitted recently that there is no official definition for the same.
Despite the dearth of evidences, the right-wing groups frequently come up with ‘Love Jihad’ issue.
During a meeting with BJP cadres, state president Nalin Kumar Kateel said that instead of asking about roads and infrastructure, the cadres should focus on ‘Love Jihad’.
‘Already, I have travelled across the constituency seven or eight times, and everyone is of the opinion that I should contest from here as there has been injustice to Hindus and rampant corruption,’ Muthalik said in January while announcing that he would contest the Assembly elections from Karkala constituency in Udupi to fight against corruption and for the cause of Hindutva.
Saying that the BJP in Karnataka had failed to protect Hindutva despite coming to power with Sri Rama Sene’s support, he had also hinted at his plans to contest the elections in November last year.
The Shri Ram Sena chief said that he does not know how to play politics and he doesn’t support BJP’s fake Hindutva. ‘If I had supported BJP's fake Hindutva, I would have achieved many things by now, Muthalik underlined.
Karkala in Udupi district is currently being represented by V Sunil Kumar (BJP), who is now Minister for Energy, Kannada and Culture in the Basavaraj Bommai-led Cabinet. He has stood for polls thrice from the constituency and won in 2004, 2013 and 2018.