'Veerangna ka bhaav nahin tha': Haryana BJP MP Jangra courts controversy, says women who lost their husbands in Pahalgam lacked warrior spirit

Terrorists of Pakistan-based terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba's offshoot The Resistance Front (TRF) killed 26 innocent people in Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on April 22. (File image)

Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra on Saturday stirred controversy by saying that the women who lost their husbands in the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack "lacked" the spirit of the warrior women and they should instead have acted like 'veerangna' (warrior women). Referring to the male tourists who lost their lives in Pahalgam, Jangra said they should have put up a fight against the terrorists.

PTI reported that the BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana was speaking at an event in Bhiwani that had been organised to mark the 300th birth anniversary of Ahilyabai Holkar.

The Rajya Sabha MP said, "'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 valour. Therefore, they became victims of the attack)."

"'Lekin haath jodne se koi chhodta nahin. Hamare aadmi vahan par haath jodkar maare gaye. (Terrorists do not leave even after requesting. Our people died with folded hands)," he added.

PTI quoted the BJP MP as saying that nobody would have been able to kill their husbands in front of them, if the women had read Holkar's history. "'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.

He also stated that if the tourists had undergone Agniveer training, then they could have surrounded the terrorists and casualties would have been less.

He later 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 less. The terrorists had come with an intention to kill people. They did not have mercy)," he was quoted saying while answering a question.

Terrorists of Pakistan-based terror organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba's offshoot The Resistance Front (TRF) killed 26 innocent people in Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on April 22.