What Does a Misogynist Sanghi Future Hold for Indian Women?

This article was first published as a social media post here.

Earlier this month, Bajrang Muni, a Hindu priest in UP, said that if any Hindu girl was harassed by a man of the Muslim community, he would “himself rape their women”.

Arrested on 13th April and granted bail on 24th April, Bajrang Muni showed no remorse and insisted that he was "ready to go to jail a thousand times" to "safeguard his religion and women".

Posturing as the protector of Hindu women, pledging to “save” them by raping Muslim women and then bragging about it—this is the abhorrent language of Hindu supremacists with a misogynistic genocidal agenda. The natural progression of this kind of violent ideology is impunity on a massive scale that will leave women and people of non-normative genders at the mercy of people like Bajrang Muni. Their statements should not be dismissed as innocuous.

Women backing communal violence who are not standing up for Muslim women today are wrong if they believe that their religious affiliation will grant them safety in the long run. In the misogynist hell created by this hatred, there will be no escape for any women.