PATRIOT GAMES

Wielding sticks and swords and taking careful aim with rifles, Bajrang Dal members were working hard at a ‘self-defence’ camp intended to prepare them for conflict with terrorists. The Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). Camps have been organised for enthusiastic cadres across Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. In one video, the ‘enemy’ were outfitted in skull caps. VHP president Pravin Togadia denied there was anything controversial about the camps. “[The] Bajrang Dal has been organising Yuva Shaurya Prashikshan camps for the past 25 years,” he said, “to make the youth of the nation healthy.” Togadia went on to claim that the Bajrang Dal had reduced the number of sick people in the country by encouraging physical fitness and should be thanked for its initiative.