Pramod Muthalik, leader of the right-wing group Sri Rama Sene, kicked up a row by bringing up the ‘love jihad’ bogey at a public rally in Karnataka’s Bagalkot. “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 on Sunday, February 19.
“If you do so, the responsibility of your protection and employment will be taken up by Sri Rama Sene,” he added. During his speech, Muthalik also said that “every Hindu must keep a weapon at home” for the “protection of cows, women and temples.” ‘Love jihad’ refers to a bogey spread by right-wing organisations alleging that Muslim men ‘trap’ Hindu and Christian women into marrying them and force them to convert to Islam. However, 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 this, the BJP and right wing affiliates like Muthalik are trying to make ‘love jihad’ an election issue. At one 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’.
Pramod Muthalik says: ‘If we lose 1 Hindu girl— we should get 10 Muslim girls’
— Chetan Kumar Ahimsa / ಚೇತನ್ ಅಹಿಂಸಾ (@ChetanAhimsa) February 20, 2023
Repulsive
Under patriarchy, women’s bodies have always served as battlegrounds for masculinist egos, hunger for power, fight for territory & ideologies
Hindutva too has always exacerbated patriarchy
In January 2023, Pramod Muthalik announced that he would contest the Assembly elections from Karkala constituency in Udupi to fight against corruption and for the cause of Hindutva. “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. He had hinted at plans to contest the elections in November last year, when he also alleged that the BJP in Karnataka failed to protect Hindutva despite coming to power with Sri Rama Sene’s support.
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.