INSIDE THE RIGHTWING ‘MILITARY CAMP’
dummy swords, loading and unloading of rifles, and using the nunchaku — a weapon used in martial arts.
Volunteers were also given weapons training using four air guns. The manuals they were given however, covered the use of a .22 caliber bolt action rifle — which can be lethal within 300-400 metres.
Sohan Singh Solanki, national co-convener of VHP said, “They (trainees) are getting habituated to a hard life and self-dependence. These lessons with remain with them forever”.
The day for trainees started at 5 am and ended at 10:30 pm. The volunteers slept on heaps of straw on concrete floors and had to wash their own clothes and dishes, apart from cleaning the Kultali (fringe area of the Sunderbans)
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December 17-23
15-35 Climbing ropes and bamboo poles, crawling through shallow muddy trenches, lateral rope-climbing, diving through rings of fire, sword and lathi play, loading and unloading of rifles, and using the nunchaku
Rice/bread, lentil soup and vegetables are served for lunch and dinner, puffed rice for breakfast and snacks.
camp every day.
The food was basic — murighughni (puffed rice-gram curry) for breakfast, rice, lentil soup and vegetables for lunch, muri-chanachur (puffed rice-fried snack) in the evening and bread/rice, lentil soup and vegetables for dinner. There were also sessions on ‘intellectual and spiritual development’ and prayers. Those who attended, paid for their own clothes and transport and contributed another ₹350 per person for food. The trainees were clad in a uniform of a white shirt, blue shorts and a saffron scarf and chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ rented the air.
According to the VHP members, the participants were chosen from camps held in every district in the state. Some of those
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receiving training here will be chosen for higher level of training during regional and national level camps, said Sourish Mukherjee, spokesperson for south Bengal VHP.
Mukherjee said: “Everyone receiving training at the state, regional or national level training will go back to their native areas and work on establishing local akharas for imparting basic physical training to the local youth”.
Sagar Adhikari, who is in his early 30s and belongs to Nadia district, said he kept his small business closed for a week to participate in the camp as he believes that protecting his religion is of greater importance than a week’s earnings. The camp concluded on December 23.