Two complaints were filed against Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pragya Thakur on Tuesday after she urged Hindus to keep weapons at home. However, the Karnataka Police are yet to register a first information report in the case.
Addressing an event organised by Hindutva group Hindu Jagarana Vedike in the state’s Shivamogga city on December 25, the Bhopal MP said that Hindus have the right to respond to those who attack them and their dignity.
“Keep weapons in your homes, if nothing else, at least keep knives used to cut vegetables sharp,” she told the gathering. “If someone infiltrates our house and attacks us, giving them a befitting reply is our right.”
She also urged Hindus to protect their girls from “love jihad” – a debunked Hindutva idea that Muslim men romantically lure Hindu women with the motive to convert them to Islam.
After a video of her remarks was widely shared on social media on Monday, it triggered outrage and many urged the police to register a case against Thakur.
Tehseen Poonawalla, a political and constitutional analyst and Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale filed complaints against the BJP leader, saying she had made “a highly blasphemous and derogatory speech against the minority community”.
This story was originally published in scroll.in . Read the full story here