In a bizarre statement, Bajrang Dal leaders in western Uttar Pradesh have asked Hindus to purchase guns and not mobiles to protect Hindu religion as “evil forces persists in India”. An appeal was also issued asking Hindus to visit Hanuman temples and not `Mazars’.

The statement came from Balraj Singh Dungar, regional coordinator of Bajrang Dal, who said during a Sant Samaj Sammelan in Meerut that Hindu dharma was in peril because evil forces were raising their heads. “If you are a true Hindu, take a vow to protect your religion. So, instead of purchasing a new mobile, purchase a gun,” he said in the meeting.

He did not specify who the evil forces were but talked about “love jihad” and how this practice was spreading its tentacles.

Dungar said that all Hindu Gods and Goddesses have arms to protect the society and religion from evils. “If Hindu Gods have arms, what’s wrong if we (Hindus) get arms and ammunition? These are not for attack but to defend ourselves,” he said.

In the same meet, the Maha-mandaleshar of Sankat Mochan Hanuman Sri Balaji and Sri Shani Dham Peeth, Mahendra Das, said Hindus should not visit `mazars’. They should admire the divine power of Lord Hanuman and visit Hanuman Temples.

The statement of Bajrang Dal came at a time when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has launched a massive enrolment campaign where volunteers were enrolled in Bajrang Dal at special camps held across Uttar Pradesh.

At present, there are around 10 million active Bajrang Dal members in the country and the target was to increase it to 40 million. In UP alone, the target of the Sangh Parivar is to enrol 1.2 million new Bajrang Dal members.

The VHP’s department secretary, (Awadh Prant), Devendra Mishra, told this reporter that the criteria for new membership is that the members should be in the age group of 15 to 35 years and swear by the ideology of ‘Seva, Suraksha, Sanskar’.

The issue of ‘ghar vapsi’, protection of Hindu community and opposition to ‘love jihad’, besides service to the poor and downtrodden were some of the prime activities of Bajrang Dal, he said.

Clarifying that Muslim youths are not enrolled in the Bajrang Dal as the Sangh Parivar has separate wing for them called Rashtriya Muslim Manch, Mishra said Christians won’t be accepted.

Mishra said that the Bajranj Dal was yet to commence its much-publicised Trishul Diksha, which was stopped in 2006. “Every year, in the months of May-June, firearms training camp are organised in different parts of the state. The first camp was held in Ayodhya while in 2017, the camp was held in Hardoi,” he said.