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Ram Chander Jangra sparked controversy by saying the Pahalgam terror attack victims should have fought back and accused the widows of lacking courage.
A file photo of Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra (Social Media)
Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra on Saturday courted a controversy by saying that the tourists who lost their lives in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack should have fought the terrorists.
He also said that women who lost their husbands to the attack “lacked” the spirit, and should have acted like ‘veerangna‘ (warrior women).
Jangra said the number of casualties in the Pahalgam terror attack would have been less had the tourists undergone the Agniveer training.
Jangra’s remark came while he was addressing a gathering in Haryana’s Bhiwani, an event organised to mark the 300th birth anniversary of Ahilyabai Holkar.
“Wahan par jo hamari veerangnay behane thee, jinki maang ka sindoor chheen liya gaya, Veerangna ka bhaav nahin tha, josh nahin tha, jazba nahin tha, dil nahin tha, isliye haath jod ke goli ka shikaar ho gaye. (Women, who lost their husbands, did not have the spirit and vigour. Therefore, they became victims of the attack),” Jangra said.
“Lekin haath jodne se koi chhodta nahin. Hamare aadmi vahan par haath jodkar maare gaye. (Terrorists do not leave one with requests. Our people died with folded hands),” he added.
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The BJP MP said had the women, who lost their husbands in the attack, had they read Holkar’s history, then nobody would have killed their husbands in this way in front of them.
“Agar yaatri training pass kiye hote, to teen ugarvaadi 26 logon ko nahin mar sakte the. (Had our tourists passed the training, then three terrorists could not have killed 26 people),” he said.
Jangra said that the tourists should have put up a fight against the terrorists.
“Bilkul ladna chahihye tha. Aur agar ladte, to kam shahadat hoti aur kam log maare jaate. Haath jodne se kaun chhodta hai? Wo to maarne ke liye aaye the… Vo to aatankvaadi the. Unke dil mein daya thodi thee. (Had they (tourists) fought, the casualties would have been fewer.”
“They — terrorists — had come to kill people. They did not have mercy,” Jangra said while responding to a question later.
A video of Jangra’s remark was widely shared on social media.
JANGRA’s REMARK TRIGGERS ROW
Reacting sharply to the Rajya Sabha MP’s remark, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said even the word “condemnable” would object to writing this disgusting statement.
He also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said this was the real face of the party.
“Even the word ‘condemnable’ would object to writing this disgusting statement of the BJP MP about the victimised women of Pahalgam,” Yadav wrote in an X post in Hindi.
“Instead of worshipping women, insulting them, condemning them and exploiting and harassing them in every possible way is the real face of the BJP, which is both disgusting and extremely shameful. BJP is not a party but a swamp of anti-women mentality,” he added.
Congress MP from Rohtak, Deepender Singh Hooda, also took to X and wrote, “Those whose husbands were ruined by terrorists in the Pahalgam attack, now this BJP MP from Haryana, Ramchandra ji is working to ruin their dignity.”
“This is a very disgusting comment. The BJP is constantly insulting the families of martyrs. This should be stopped,” he wrote.
Congress’s social media head, Supriya Shrinate, also condemned Jangra’s remarks.
“BJP MP Ramchandra Jangra is talking about the women who lost their husbands in the Pahalgam attack. ‘She did not have the spirit of a warrior. She did not have passion, she did not have zeal, she did not have heart. That’s why they folded their hands and became a victim of the bullet’,” Shrinate quoted Jangra in her post.
“And party talks about vermilion? There’s a limit to shamelessness,” she added.
PAHALGAM ATTACK AND OPERATION SINDOOR
As many as 26 tourists were killed by armed terrorists in Kashmir’s iconic Pahalgam on April 22.
Survivors later said the terrorists had asked them their faith, and shot dead those who said they were non-Muslims.
The terrorists also asked the tourists to recite a ‘Kalma‘ (an Islamic phrase) to confirm if they were non-Muslims, before shooting them point-blank.
In response, India, on the intervening night of May 7 and 8, launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ against Pakistan and destroyed multiple terror targets there. More than 100 terrorists, taking shelter in Pakistan, were also killed in the operation.
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