Rameshwar Sharma, the BJP MLA from Bhopal’s Huzur constituency, on Monday, September 21, said that if Muslims wished to attend Garba events during the Navratri festival, they should bring their sisters and daughters, adding, “our boys are also ready”.

Speaking at a public event nearly a month ahead of Navratri, Sharma made various remarks on how members of the Muslim community attending Hindu religious festivals should behave in Bhopal.

In a video that has now gone viral on social media, he can be heard saying, “Muslim wish to come for Garba, come! Why do you only want to come for Garba? Even if you wish to come permanently, we are ready. Come and chant Jai Sri Ram, draw tilaks on your foreheads, protect the ‘gau mata’…will anybody have a problem with that? And why do only boys want to come? Bring you sisters and daughters from home, our boys are also ready!” 

The video attracted significant backlash with opposition leaders, journalists, and social media users condemning Sharma’s remarks.

On Tuesday, September 22, seemingly in an attempt to justify his remarks, Sharma invoked ‘Love Jihad’ while speaking to ANI. He accused “men from other religious” of attending events like Garba and “entrapping Hindu women” through “Love Jihad”. 

“Garba is a form of prayer and worship dedicated to our Goddess Sati. We have earnestly urged everyone not to view it merely as a source of entertainment or a theatrical performance… Women, sisters, and daughters from our own faith attend Garba to worship Goddess Jagdamba… Young men from other religions come and mock our daughters or engage in acts like Love Jihad by entrapping them,” he alleged. 

Sticking to his stance, he added: “If they wish to attend, they should come with their families… their own sisters and daughters…and strictly adhere to India’s Sanatan traditions… If they hold a genuine belief and faith in Hinduism, they are welcome to embrace the religion; we have no objection to that… I said that the chhore of Sanatan are ready to defend their faith… if anyone comes to our religious events and teases our daughters, our chhore will give them a befitting reply.”

Criticising Sharma’s remarks, Journalist Rana Ayyub Ayyub wrote on Instagram, “The men are not assaulting women in a vacuum. They are acting in a climate where this culture is celebrated, rewarded and emboldened by those who claim to be the protectors of women.” In her post, Ayyub cited the recent cases of alleged molestation of a teenage girl at Bihar’s Jamui and the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in Delhi.

Journalist Nivedita Shandilya posted a video on X, saying, “… According to Rameshwar Sharma, this is Sanatan, this is Devi’s puja… Political leaders have made a joke out of women’s safety. Whenever there’s crimes against women, they engage in dirty politics and whattaboutery. Is this why crimes against women are endless? Because the criminals themselves have become leaders.”

Congress MLA from the Bhopal Central constituency, Arif Masood, reacted to the incident saying, “Muslims have nothing to do with Garba.” Referring to Sharma as a “nafrati chintu (hate-monger), he condemned the statement as vile and objectionable, asking the former to “mend his ways”. Similarly, AICC media coordinator, Harmeet Kaur, said, “Shameless BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma’s disgusting statement…But neither will our Prime Minister Narendra Modi get a cultural shock from this, nor will the media erupt over it.”

AIMIM state president, Mohsin Ali Khan, said that Sharma’s statements are an attempt to break the unity of the country, and exacerbate the condition of an already polarising atmosphere in Bhopal during Garba.

Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaik asked whether the ruling party would take action against Sharma. “BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma’s statement against women is deeply objectionable. Using crude, provocative language against our mothers and sisters to spread communal hatred is unacceptable. Will the BJP leadership take action, or do they endorse this hate?” Shaik said. 

A far-Right BJP veteran, who has been repeatedly found making communal and polarising comments, Sharma has made his stance — only Hindus can exclusively partake in Garba — clear in the past as well. While serving as the pro-tem speaker of the Madhya Pradesh assembly in 2021, he had proposed a ban on Muslims entering Garba events. “I am still firm on the stand against the participation of Muslims in garba. It’s a religious event and only those who have faith should attend. Will they embrace Hinduism if they are allowed? No. Then why should they turn up?” he had told The Print.

Alt News had earlier reported that on September 7, Sharma found himself in the centre of backlash, when he spoke of “dropping missiles” in Bhopal’s Muslim-dominated area of Qazi Camp. Speaking at a Matki Phod (pot-breaking) competition in Karond, he had said, “If you fire a missile from Karond Square, it should land in Qazi Camp.”

Last year in September, in a controversial statement, Sharma called madrasas “conversion hubs” and asserted that madrasas would “not be allowed” to operate in Madhya Pradesh. Again, in an interview with The Print, Sharma admitted to being part of the mob responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 and serving as Bajrang Dal’s Bhopal convenor at that time. Sharma described it as the “most fulfilling occasion” of his life.