Bajrang Dal
Other names: Brigade of Hanuman - BD
Type: Right-wing/Hindu nationalist organisation
Founded: October 1984
Location: New Delhi, India
Organisation Ideology: Hindutva/Hindu Supremacism
Leadership: Vinay Katiyar
Online Resources
Official website: Bajrang Dal
65K followers
Account Suspended
None
28.2K followers
Overview
Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad's (VHP) - a Hindu nationalist militant organization founded in 1984 by Vinay Katiyar (view Katiyar’s profile here on EMAN) in Uttar Pradesh in India. It is a part of the RSS family of right-wing Hindutva organisations. The organisation's ideology is based on Hindu supremacism and began expanding throughout India in the 2010s.
A major objective of the organisation is the construction of Hindu temples on sites that were once either occupied by mosques, or are currently disputed sites between Muslims and Hindus. A case in point is the hypothesised location of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya, where Hindu nationalists believe was the birthplace of a major Hindu deity. The Babri Masjid Mosque once stood on that location, and was subsequently destroyed by Hindu nationalists in 1992.
The organisation vocally opposed what it sees as an increase in the population of Muslims, the increase in conversion rates to Christianity amongst the Hindu population, and opposition to cow slaughter. BD, supported by VHP, has spoken out against the threat of Islamist radicalism in India and has stated that armed training and awareness programs amongst Hindus would be held across the country. Like many right-wing Islamophobic outfits across the world, they claim that “Islamic terrorists are hidden among the general population and that they intend to expose them.” Additionally, BD supports the VHP's anti-cow slaughter stance and has backed efforts to outlaw it, despite a significant number of non-Hindu Indians including Muslims and Christians being able to consume cow products . It has been flagged by Facebook's security team as a potentially dangerous organisation that advocates violence against minorities in India.
Ties to Extremism
Bajrang Dal strictly opposes the continuous expansion of Muslim and Christian minorities in India and supports the ideology of Hindu nationalism. Many faith-based attacks were carried out by BD members on Muslim and Christian populations as well as their Holy sites. In Gujarat state, India’s fifth most populous province, the Bajrang Dal has been accused of preventing Muslims from owning land by assaulting businessmen who sell to Muslims and attacking Muslim households and forcing the sale of their houses and apartments. Large cities in Gujarat, such as Ahmedabad and Vadodara, become “ghettoized'' as a result of this ideology. On several occasions, Bajrang Dal extremists have frequently used violence, storming gift stores and restaurants and threatening couples on Valentine’s Day in 2020 - stating that couples “should be observing a memorial day for soldiers killed in Kashmir on the same date the previous year rather than celebrating a “poisonous day”. Additionally, in September 2008, the Bajrang Dal launched a new wave of terrorist attacks in Karnataka on Newlife Christian churches and prayer rooms in protest of the Newlife Missionaries' defamation of Hindu Gods and religious conversion.
Bajrang Dal has been criticised for prohibiting consensual inter-religious marriages following the implementation of the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 in Uttar Pradesh to combat Love Jihad. BD has also been condemned for promoting sexism and advocating for restrictions on women's independence, particularly when it comes to choosing their spouses outside of caste and religion. On the 5th of December 2020, only days before Christmas, Bajrang Dal key member Mithu Nath openly threatened and warned Hindus attending Christmas celebrations in Assam's Barak Valley that they would be beaten. Following this, the Cachar district Deputy Commissioner of Police filed a complaint against him.
