Nowadays, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is in news for its ‘self-defence’ camp organised by the Bajrang Dal. Media has gone gaga over the news and there are attacks and counter attacks on such training camps. At the same time, Right wing organization is defending Bajrang Dal’s ‘self-defence’ camp as “social responsibility”. This is not the first time that some saffron wing is training youth, woman and children with arms, whether it is a Congress-ruled state or SP, BSP, Communists or BJP-ruled, these camps are conducted time and again. The motive is to fight against enemies of Hindu. It would be very difficult to say who is enemy to Hindu as many religious groups exist in India and more over Hinduism has become a political tool.
“Under the Indian Constitution and laws, every citizen of India has the right to pursue activities, and the Bajrang Dal has been organising ‘Yuva Shaurya Prasikshan’ camps for the past 25 years to make the youth of the nation healthy through this self-defence camp. As per reports, over 300 participants are undergoing training to handle situations like ‘attacks by extremist groups’ in the camp which started on May 21.The organisation has hired trainers of judo, karate, nunchaku, stick and sword fighting for training the participants in the camp. If we get in to the past, you can find many such examples of RSS training its cadres of self-defense with lathis and swords. Their aim is to safe guard Hindu religion.
Even, the late Bal Thackeray exuded an influence that inspired many but was loathsome to more. His image was unmistakable: his broad-lensed spectacles, the beaded necklace around his neck, his trademark white kurta and dhoti. His words burned with xenophobia and Hindu fundamentalism. All anti-national Muslims be driven out of the country. Islamic terrorism is growing and Hindu terrorism is the only way to counter it. He was endorsing suicide-bomb squads to protect India and Hindus. Then the chief of India’s extreme Hindu right-wing organization Shiv Sena, Thackeray was never shy about speaking his mind. He was aggressive and always went vocal against Muslims; he strongly believed that the Islam is threat to Hinduism and mankind. His political army (Shiv Sena supporters and members) of Shiv Sainiks are also trained and motivated to fight or riot against Muslims. After 1993 blast, Shiv sainiks used to be on roads and streets with swords and guns. VHP, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Vahini, RSS, Shiv Sena all these right wing organizations have their armed forces to fight internal battles against particular religion and its people.
Bajrang Dal leader Mahesh Sharma, who was arrested in connection with the ‘self-defence’ camp organised in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya city, was sent to 14-day judicial custody. Sharma was charged with hurting religious sentiments of the Muslim community and spreading communal hatred under Section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In the video that went viral, volunteers wearing skull caps were reportedly seen brandishing firearm, swords and lathis. In the annual self-defence camp, the Bajrang Dal cadres are trained to use rifles, swords and sticks so that they can ‘protect the Hindus’. The cadres were in the video seen killing men dressed as Muslims during the mock drill.
Hinduism and Islam are the third and second most popular religions in the world respectively. They differ in many respects – including idol worship, monotheism and their history. Islam is a monotheistic Abrahamic religion, founded by Prophet Muhammad in the Middle East in the 7th century CE. Hinduism, on the other hand, is religious tradition that originated in the Indian subcontinent in the pre-classical era (1500–500 BCE) and does not have a specific founder.
In the last 66 years after the Indian independence and partition, the Muslims in India have preferential treatment with their own Muslim Personal Law. Communal tensions between the Hindus and the Muslims have erupted many a times during this period. Notable incidents of this phenomenon include the demolition of the Babri Masjid (believed to have been built on the sacred site of a demolished temple marking the birthplace of Lord Rāma) and the Gujarat Riots of 2002. The Gujarat violence of 2002 is significant for recording the highest annual death toll in any event of Hindu-Muslim violence in a single state in the history of independent India: 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed following the murder of 59 innocent Hindu passengers allegedly by Muslim youths on a train near Godhra on 27 February. The incident that spurred the violence was when the Sabarmati Express train was attacked at Godhra allegedly by a Muslim mob as per a pre-planned conspiracy. The riots and killings among Hindu-Muslim is not new thing, this country has seen many such communal incidences, but in the recent past due to politics and vote bank, the hate among two religion is grown and with growing hate the defense (attacking) teams are given training to safeguard its own religion. Muslims train their youth and Hindus too are training their youth. Let’s see, where these religious armies are going to lead the country.
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