Kasaragod: Hindus should keep swords at home and carry knives with them to prevent terror attacks such as Pahalgam, said Prabhakar Bhat Kalladka, the influential and powerful leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from coastal Karnataka. 

His speech urging Hindus to take up arms was delivered in Vorkady, a border village in Kasaragod, on Tuesday, April 29—just two days after a Malayali Muslim man with mental illness was lynched by a mob in Mangaluru. Police have arrested 20 men in connection with the hate crime."Every Hindu house should keep a sword. If Hindus had brandished swords during the Pahalgam attack, the story would have been different," he said in his speech at Vorkady Shrimatha Seva Ashram.

He also urged women to carry knives in their bags. "When stepping out, our daughters should keep knives in their vanity bags. You don’t need a license to carry a six-inch knife," he said. If you are out after dusk, there is every chance of an attack, he added. "Don't plead with attackers. Just show the knife and they will run away."

Kalladka was once described by the late five-time Congress MLA K Vasantha Bangera in the Karnataka Assembly as the "controller-in-chief" of coastal Karnataka, because of his perceived sway over the police and district administrations, and the unchecked freedom enjoyed by Hindutva outfits like the Bajrang Dal, Sri Rama Sene, and Hindu Jagarana Vedike in the region. Politically, he is credited with transforming coastal Karnataka — once a Congress stronghold — into a BJP bastion. Despite multiple hate speech cases registered against him in Karnataka, Kalladka remains undeterred.

Speaking at the Vorkady ashram, he claimed that Hindus are no longer retreating during communal clashes. "Before, Hindus used to flee during Hindu-Muslim clashes. That's changing now. We must rise, and everyone must keep a sword at home," he said.

Hindutva leaders from Pramod Muthalik, Pravin Togadia, and Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati to Sant Yuvraj Maharaj frequently portray Muslims as enemies or threats to justify calls for Hindus to arm themselves. Prabhakar Bhat Kalladka had also made similar calls earlier.

When contacted, Manjeshwar MLA A K M Ashraf said he would file a police complaint against the RSS leader for inciting people to take up arms in his constituency.