To mark the 25th year of the Babri Masjid demolition, the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, has started a recruitment drive among youth.
The programme will go on till December 6, the day when the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished in 1992. Hindutva outfits led by the RSS celebrate the day as “Shaurya Diwas”.
Camps across U.P.
The Bajrang Dal is holding camps across Uttar Pradesh to attract youth. A pamphlet distributed by the outfit in a camp in Ballia district in Purvanchal appeals to youth to join it and attain the “good fortune” of participating in “nation-building”.
Some of the reasons why the youth should join it, as stated by the Bajrang Dal are, “unity of the nation”, “security of mutts and mandirs”, “protection of gau mata”, “honour of jawans”, “protection of sisters from love jihad” and “to invoke nationalist sentiments” among them.
‘To fight terrorists’
Dhananjay, Bajrang Dal in charge of the Gorakhpur pranth, said the aim of the drive was to recruit Hindu youth so that they can “fight terrorists” and “stand shoulder-to-shoulder” with Army jawans. “We want to mould rashtra-bhakt [patriotic] youth. We aspire for an ‘ atankwad-mukt Bharat’ [terrorism-free India],” he said.
Weapons training
Asked if the youth would be imparted training in weapons, he said the outfit already had a programme fixed for it every May.
Last year, the Bajrang Dal’s programme ran into trouble as it was booked for “promoting enmity between groups” after a video purportedly showing its cadre participating in a weapons-training drill near the disputed site in Ayodhya went viral on social media and television channels.
While the VHP, its parent organisation, described the “mock drill” as a routine annual affair, much outrage was created as the Bajrang Dal in its drill depicted skull-cap wearing, bearded men as terrorists.
Bhopal convention
At its national convention held in Bhopal in the last week of October, the Bajrang Dal included “threat to India’s internal security” among the three resolutions passed by it. The other two were ''gau raksha'' (cow protection) and the construction of a Ram mandir in Ayodhya.
In the meeting attended by over 1,900 representatives, the Bajrang Dal appealed to the youth to expose human rights groups, “alleged secularists” and “secular media” through social media and other ways for allegedly supporting terrorism and extremism and posing a threat to the country.
It also urged Hindus to participate extensively in ''gau raksha'' and ''gau seva'' (service to the cow).
