Bajrang Dal - Ideology and Agenda

Ideology and Agenda

Among the goals of the Bajrang Dal in modern India is a reversing of the invasions by Muslim conquerors and British imperialism. They include demands to convert historical monuments currently disputed into temples. The Bajrang Dal asserts on its website that they are neither communal or divisive. In particular, they say

"The Bajrang Dal is not against any religion. It acknowledges respecting the faith of other people, but expects and asserts for a similar respect of the Hindu Sentiments. Being Hindu, the Bajrang Dal believes in validity of All Religions and Respect for all human beings, irrespective of caste, color, and religion (Aatmasvat Sarva Bhuteshu). It is for this purpose that the Bajrang Dal has undertaken various public-awakening campaigns. It does not believe in violence or any unlawful activity."


In addition, Bajrang Dal said they would circulate five million handbills, giving details about the activities of Christian missionaries. Bajrang Dal national convenor Surendra Kumar Jain said the outfit would peacefully expose what he described as questionable means adopted by some Christian bodies to convert poor people under a world evangelical plan that specially targeted Hindu-majority India.

Bajrang Dal, together with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, has spoken out against Islamic Terrorism in India and have announced that they will carry out awareness campaigns across the nation. They have stated that Islamic terrorists are hiding among the general population in India and mean to expose them. Bajrang Dal convener Prakash Sharma stressed that they were not targeting any particular community, but were trying to "wake up" the people of India, particularly the youth, to the dangers of terrorism in the light of the 2002 Akshardham Temple attack perpetrated by terrorist linked to the militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba. Bajrang Dal also share VHP's position against the slaughter of cows (regarded as sacred by many Hindus) and have supported proposed bans on bovine slaughter.

The Gujrat Bajrang Dal is at the forefront of the anti-beauty contest agitation. Another of its objectives is preventing Hindu-Muslim marriages.

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