BJP lawmaker ‘purifies’ historic Indian fort after Muslim women pray

NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sparked outrage after leading a “purification” ritual using cow urine at a centuries-old fort in western India’s Maharashtra state, in what opposition leaders and civil rights advocates say is a Hindutva-driven provocation against Muslims.

Medha Kulkarni, a member of parliament, performed the ritual at Shaniwar Wada, an 18th-century fort and former royal residence in the city of Pune, after a viral video showed Muslim women offering prayers at the site. 

Joined by members of extremist Hindu groups, she chanted religious hymns and poured cow urine — considered sacred in Hindu tradition — to “cleanse” what she described as a defiled monument.

According to the Indian media, Kulkarni defended the act as a “symbolic protest” to protect “Hindu heritage,” insisting that Shaniwar Wada “cannot be turned into a mosque.” 

She described the fort as a symbol of Hindavi Swaraj — the 17th-century Maratha ideal of Hindu self-rule — and said her party would not allow Islamic prayer at the site.

Observers, however, say the act exemplifies how Hindutva ideology, rooted in Hindu supremacism, is being weaponized under Modi’s leadership to recast India’s multicultural past as exclusively Hindu. 

Opposition leaders accused the BJP of manufacturing religious confrontation ahead of local elections to consolidate its core voter base.

“Some Muslim women offered prayers at Shaniwar Wada, and BJP members responded by sprinkling cow urine to ‘purify’ the site,” said Sachin Sawant, a spokesperson for the Congress Party.

 “They should remember that the fort itself is a product of diverse influences — even Mastani, who had mixed Hindu-Muslim heritage, lived there. The BJP is rewriting history to erase that pluralism.”

Arvind Shinde, head of the Pune unit of the Congress, called the event a “scripted provocation” timed before civic polls. “The BJP uses religion as a political weapon before every election,” he said, accusing the party of “inciting Hindus under the pretext of heritage.”

The fort, built in 1732 by the Maratha Peshwas, once served as the seat of regional power before British colonization. Today it is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and regarded as a symbol of Maharashtra’s composite history — combining Hindu, Persian, and Mughal architectural influences.

Leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have demanded police action against Kulkarni for “inciting communal hatred during a festival season.” Heritage experts have also warned that such acts risk turning historic monuments into ideological battlegrounds.

Analysts say the episode reflects a broader strategy by the BJP and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to assert Hindu dominance over public spaces and reinterpret history through a sectarian lens. 

Similar campaigns — from renaming Mughal-era cities to restricting Muslim prayers in public spaces — have become emblematic of the BJP’s majoritarian politics under Modi, where culture and faith are routinely weaponized for political gain.