Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nitesh Rane issued a direct threat during the grand Ramnavami procession in Maharashtra’s Mumbai on Thursday, March 26, stating that he would “gouge out the eyes” of anyone who looked at the Hindu religion with ill intent.

Videos circulating on social media show Rane addressing the crowd, where he said, “Maybe some people might have forgotten that this is a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation). This is not anyone’s father’s Pakistan.”

“Agar kisine bhi hamare Bhagwa ke taraf gandi nazar se dekhega toh unke aankhe nilakle gotiya khelunga (If anyone looks at our saffron religion the wrong way, I will gouge their eyes out and play marbles with it),” he said.

His inflammatory remarks come on the sidelines of the Hindu community’s attempt to hoist a saffron flag near a mosque, a contentious subject in the area of Malvani, Malad.

While he talked, the crowd could be seen giving loud cheers, ending the gathering with religious chants.

Making inflammatory comments is not new for Nitesh Rane, who has made similar remarks previously, solidifying his anti-Muslim stance, where he often tells the minorities to “go to Pakistan.” He had earlier said that madrasas are breeding grounds for terrorism.

“Madrasas are centres for making terrorists. Would we have ever got permission to set up centres for learning the Bhagwat Gita in a Muslim nation? We have no other option but to shut down madrassas where children are beaten,” the BJP MLA said.

The Akhil Hindu Samaj in Malvani had organised a grand procession on the occasion of Ramnavami, which saw a huge turnout. Following the event, Rane told reporters that such “masti,” meaning Muslims praying, cannot be done in “our Deval Bhau’s Maharashtra.”

“No matter how hard you try, if you have to pray the next prayer in Pakistan, this it is not our fault.”