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:
Photographs of the saffron cadres brandishing rifles, swords and even lathis (sticks) in the camps have gone viral on social media and news channels.
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.”
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