Bhiwani: Vivek, 27, could not fulfil his childhood dream of joining the Army, but he has no regrets. He instead became a “soldier” of the Bajrang Dal and is “serving the nation” by protecting cows and fighting ‘jihadis’, he says.
“The Army serves at the borders and saves the country from outside forces. I serve inside my country to save my Hindu religion and country from jihadis and Christian extremists. Bajrang Dal is also an army,” Vivek explains, sitting outside a gaushala (cow shelter) in Haryana’s Bhiwani, an orange muffler wrapped around his neck.
Vivek says he had slumped into a depression when he could not get into the Indian Army due to a health issue, but his life changed after he watched a YouTube video of a Bajrang Dal rally for a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
Seven years ago, he not only joined the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), but also dropped his given surname. He now calls himself Vivek Bajrangi and runs a hair-cutting shop called ‘Hindu Barber’. Only Hindus are allowed inside.
Vivek was among the young men who joined a Hindu mahapanchayat in Bhiwani Thursday to rally behind the Bajrang Dal gau rakshaks (cow protectors) accused in the alleged killings of two Muslim men from neighbouring Rajasthan.
The charred remains of the men, Junaid and Nasir, were found in Bhiwani. The Rajasthan Police have said that they believe the two were suspected of cattle smuggling and attacked by cow vigilantes in Haryana. One of the accused is Monu Manesar, a Bajrang Dal worker who is a district-level member of the Haryana government’s cow protection task force and something of a local celebrity.
In Bhiwani, an unassuming small town in western Haryana, several men who attended the mahapanchayat told ThePrint they thought a grave injustice had been done in accusing the gau rakshaks and that this was an attempt to malign a good cause.
Most of the men ThePrint spoke to were young, unemployed, and uninterested in higher studies, but they were passionate about cow welfare, and to save the nation from “jihadi forces”.
They also had a shared vision of a ‘Hindu rashtra’ and a strong belief that places with a significant Muslim population, like Haryana’s Mewat region, were “mini-Pakistans” that posed a threat to India.
Also read: Not just vigilantes: How gau rakshaks like Monu Manesar fuel Haryana govt’s cow protection drive
‘Modernity has ruined us’
Himanshu Hasija, 24, is a B.Pharmacy student, but his real purpose in life, he says, is to work towards a ‘Hindu rashtra‘. According to him, there are many Muslim and Christian countries but not a single Hindu nation.
Tall, lean, and sporting a fashionable haircut, he claims to be against caste, but thinks that the ‘Hindu rashtra‘ should bring back the varna system of social stratification, which categorises people as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras based on their occupation.
Before he joined the Bajrang Dal, Hasija was not very religious, but he is now a regular at temples and havans, he says.
“The Bajrang Dal has changed me. I have become more principled. I want India to become the country that it was centuries ago, when the varna system was in place and society was united. Modernity has ruined us,” he says.
When asked about the place of women in his imagined ‘Hindu rashtra’, he says they will enjoy a high status since they are “three times” more capable than men.
“Women can take care of the house, work, and also reproduce. Men can only work, but they cannot take care of the house. So, women are three times more capable than men,” he says, gesturing animatedly as he speaks.
Vivek Bajrangi, who dropped his studies after Class 12, is also a traditionalist. He thinks romantic relationships before marriage are “wrong”.
“God does everything. God must have made a partner for me, who will come to me on her own. Having a girlfriend is wrong,” he says, smiling shyly.
He doesn’t have much free time either as the proprietor of the ‘Hindu’ barber shop and a full-time activist of the Bajrang Dal. “Ever since I joined [Bajrang Dal], I felt that I have found my purpose.”
‘Haven’t been, but Mewat is mini Pakistan’
The Mewat region, which encompasses Haryana’s Nuh district and parts of Rajasthan, has become an epicentre of cow vigilantism over the last few years.
Nuh, often called Mewat locally, is the only district in Haryana with a Muslim-majority population.
Aayush (he declined to give a last name), another attendee at the Bhiwani mahapanchayat, has been a member of the Bajrang Dal for four years. He has never been to Nuh/Mewat, but his comrades have convinced him that it is a “mini Pakistan”.
“Our people who have gone to Mewat to save cows tell us that once you enter the city, it feels different. There are Muslims all around. It feels like ‘mini Pakistan’,” he said, his eyes widening as he speaks.
At the mahapanchayats in both Bhiwani and Palwal, frightful descriptions of Mewat were given to rapt audiences.
The head of the Gau Raksha Dal, a cow protection organisation, in Bhiwani told the crowd that Mewat was a place where “bullets are rained.”
Fired up by these descriptions, Ayush, who is in his early 20s, dreams of visiting Mewat.
“I am mostly busy with the activities of thr Bajrang Dal, making people join the organisation, and organising gatherings. I hardly find any time, but I will visit Mewat once,” his says, his eyes gleaming at the idea.
‘Trishul is for dharam, desh, and gau raksha’
Many who joined the mahapanchayat in Bhiwani were there merely because “everyone else” was too.
A student at Vaish College in Bhiwani, 23-year-old Mohit (he did not give a last name) joined the Bajrang Dal two years ago at the insistence of some friends.
“It was sort of a mass joining. Everyone was joining, so I too joined. There was no reason in particular,” he says, scrolling down his phone.
When asked why he was at the mahapanchayat, he says: “My friends came, so I joined them. Also, I think cow should be saved.”
As he speaks, some other college students pull his leg for interacting with a reporter.
At the mahapanchayat, not everyone was allowed to speak to the media. Only a select few were given the chance.
“They are young people, they don’t know what to say. Tomorrow, if they say anything wrong, our image will be tarnished,” said Lalit Bajrangi, the head of the student wing of the Bajrang Dal in Haryana and also one of the organisers of the panchayat.
Another attendee has changed his name to ‘Rakshak’ and carries a small trishul (trident).
He joined the Bajrang Dal when he was a child and has been taking care of cows at a gaushala.
He says that just like Sikhs are allowed to carry the kirpan (dragger), the Hindus should also be allowed to carry religious arms.
Pulling his trishul out of a sling pocket, he explains that he keeps it for “safety” and not to hurt anyone.
“This trishul is for dharam (religion), desh (country), and gau raksha,” he says while other attendees surrounding him cheer his answer.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
Also read: ‘Sabko Monu banna padega’ — thousands attend 2nd Hindu mahapanchayat for ‘gau rakshak’ Manesar