Ahmedabad: Echoing the views of a BJP MLA from Madhya Pradesh, firebrand Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia said Muslims must not be allowed inside the garba events and insisted identity cards of each and every person be checked for participants in and visitors to such events.
"We must be alert so that not a single Muslim person can enter in our garba festival. Identity cards of each and every person must be checked at every garba event," Togadia said in Amreli town in Saurashtra on Saturday.
"Navratri is the festival of Mother Amba's prayers and worship, so we cannot allow beaf-eaters Muslims to enter into garba places,” Togadia added.
BJP MLA in Madhya Pradesh Usha Thakur had recently asked party workers to ensure that Muslim youths are not allowed to enter garba venues in her constituency, Indore (3), during the upcoming annual Navdurga festival alleging that Hindu girls are lured by them and converted to Islam as part of the ‘love jihad' to distort population ratio in the country.
Thakur, who is also state BJP vice-president, had said she would soon be writing to all garba organisers in her constituency to allow only Hindu men inside the garba venues by making electoral photo-identity cards mandatory for entry.
Speaking about 'love jihad', Togadia said, "We need to be alert about love jihad. If it is love, then where is the need of conversion?"
On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's offer of relief to flood-affected Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Togadia said tanks should be sent there along with relief materials.
