Islamophobic Remarks :

Pragya Singh Thakur is a politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and an extremist Hindu monk. She currently represents the Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, electoral constituency as an MP for India. Her active engagement in the student wing of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), during her undergraduate years is the reason for her early involvement with various affiliate groups of the RSS.

Before leaving the ABVP in 1997, Thakur had been a member since 1993 and held the position of state secretary. She was also connected to the radical Hindu Jagran Manch, the Rashtrawadi Sena, and Durga Vahini, the women’s section of the Bajrang Dal. Most remarkably, she was a founding member of the RSS offshoot Vande Mataram Jan Kalyan Samiti.

One of the main suspects in the 2008 bombing in Malegaon, Maharashtra, which happened close to a mosque and resulted in at least 10 fatalities and 100 injuries, is Thakur. From the scene, a motorcycle with Thakur’s name was found. Experts believe that the explosives used to set off the explosion were set up on Thakur’s motorcycle.

She was thus taken into custody on suspicion of terrorism-related offenses and has been in detention ever since, facing many counts under anti-terrorism legislation. She was released on bond in 2017 when the National Investigation Agency dropped several significant allegations against her on the grounds of her health.

In the 2019 general election, Thakur ran a strong campaign and won the Bhopal constituency, drawing a lot of attention. Political analyst Christophe Jaffrelot claims that she turned into the “symbol” of the 2019 election, during which vague, ancillary aspects of the Hindutva ideology gained traction.

Her campaign comments and later public utterances, which frequently targeted the Muslim population, have drawn harsh condemnation and legal repercussions. Thakur spoke during the 2019 general election about her role in the 1992 destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Due to her remarks, which violated the Model Code of Conduct and inflamed communal tensions, the Election Commission of India requested the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against her. As a result, she was barred from campaigning for 72 hours.

At a December 2020 Hindu Jagaran Vitike gathering in Mumbai, she urged for violence and spread the hateful conspiracy theory of love jihad against Muslims. She encouraged Hindus to keep their weapons on hand and publicly called for the murder of Muslims, saying, “If nothing else, at least keep your knives sharp.”