Right-wing outfit Bajrang Dal organised a ‘self-defence’ camp in Ayodhya to impart training in weapons to saffron cadres, an exercise which the Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik defended on Tuesday.
An FIR was registered against the party under section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups), SP of Faizabad, Sankalp Sharma said.
Bajrang Dal has faced allegations of rioting and violence against religious minorities. The outfit has also been accused of running vigilante cow-protection programmes.
While replying to the queries of the media, Naik said:
This arms training is for the purpose of self-defence. There should not be any objection from any quarter. The intention behind this exercise is what counts.
Photographs of the saffron cadres brandishing rifles, swords and even lathis (sticks) in the camps have gone viral on social media and news channels.
Those who cannot defend themselves, cannot ultimately defend the country and there is nothing wrong if some youth are getting arms training purely for self-defence.Ram Naik, Uttar Pradesh Governor
The radical group is of the view that martial art and weapon training was needed to protect the Hindu community, without having to rely on the police and politicians.
The annual ‘self-defence’ camp of the right-wing outfit, which was organised in Ayodhya, is now scheduled to be held in Sultanpur, Gorakhpur, Pilibhit, Noida and Fatehpur, sources in the Bajrang Dal said.
Meanwhile, the Bajrang Dal has defended its action and said that the training was imparted to generate nationalistic feeling as well as for mental well-being among the youth.
The Samajwadi party has criticised the move, calling it “terrorist training.”
Such kind of mock drills can be conducted only by government agencies. Now organisations are conducting these in their own way, like we see ISIS, Hizbul Mujahideen and naxals doing it. I see this as a terrorist trainingSyed Asim Waqar, Spokesperson of Samajwadi Party
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