Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pragya Thakur stoked a controversy with her remarks on “love jihad” as she asked the gathering to keep their knives sharpened in case someone attacks them. Arguing that Hindus were within their rights to respond to those who attack them and their dignity, Pragya wanted the gathering to be ready for any situation and respond accordingly.
“Keep weapons in your homes. At least keep the knives used to cut vegetables sharp. Don’t know what situation will arise when. Everyone has the right to self-protection. If someone infiltrates our house and attacks us, it is our right to respond to them. Just like how knives cut vegetables, it will also chop mouths and heads,” the Lok Saba MP from Bhopal said, according to a video tweeted by The Indian Express.
Pragya was addressing the gathering at the Hindu Jagarana Vedike’s South Region annual convention in Karnataka’s Shivamogga on Sunday. Her remarks asking Hindus to keep “knives sharpened” were made in reference to the murder of Bajrang Dal activist Harsha in Shivamogga.
Pragya also addressed the issue of “love jihad” and asked parents to “protect their girls” and teach them the right values. “Love jihad… They have a tradition of jihad. If they get nothing, they will do love jihad. Even if they love, they do jihad in that.
“We (Hindus) too love. We love God. A sanyasi loves God. But a sanyasi says, in this world created by God, end all oppressors, wrong-doers, sinners, or else, the true definition of love will not survive here. So answer those involved in love jihad the same way,” Pragya said.
Pragya further advised parents against educating their children in institutions run by missionaries. “Stop sending (your children) to missionaries. By doing so, you are opening the doors of old age homes for yourselves. The children won’t be yours and of your culture. They grow in the culture of old age homes and become selfish,” she added.